Taiho
by inwardtransience
Summary: Shouzan, travel, refugees, Tenchoku, civil war, restoration, rebellion, corruption, shitsudou—life is never boring for the current Taiho of Kyou.
1. Prologue

Deep in the heart of the world there was a sea, Koukai. This was not a sea of water, but one of land. It was a land of forest and swamp, desert and rock. Where things lived, it was rich with life—plants, animals, youma, youjuu, all in great numbers. The combination of the harsh terrain and the roaming monsters made the area inhospitable to human development, so very few lived here.

There was a place where people lived in this sea that wasn't a sea: the easternmost of the five mountains at the center of Koukai, Houzan. Here lived the nyosen, permanent caretakers of the mountain and its more temporary residents. Houzan was little more than a maze, with twisting, branching paths one must navigate to reach the inhabited center, and inside between different locales. This was a holy place, so near to the home of Tentei Himself. Holy as it was, it seemed to be in a perpetual season of spring, flowers constantly blooming everywhere one looked. And so holy were the nyosen, unageing and undying.

But there was an exceptionally holy place on Houzan. Up the slope from those inhabited areas was a tree. To one who did not know what one was looking at, it would seem a sad sort of tree. There were no leaves, and the branches stretched in a way that one could see as morose. A resident of this world would recognize this tree as holy. But this tree was greater than a yaboku, where were birthed plants, animals. This tree was greater even than a riboku, from which came humans. So rare, so great, was this tree, it was the only of its kind in existence. This was the Shashinboku. Here were born the nyokai, and, more importantly, the Kirin, that most holy of creatures.

Beneath the tree was a strange creature. She—for the creature was clearly female—had the feathered wings of a bird, the face, arms, and torso of a woman, and the legs and tail of a tiger. This was a nyokai, by the name of Kasshi. On her face was a rapturous expression of pure adoration. This face—protective, loving—was directed at a ranka hanging from the Shashinboku. It was large for a fruit, golden in color. Every once in a while, Kasshi would reach out to gently stroke the ranka. She had kept this vigil, never moving from her spot, for quite some time now. Her wait was soon over.

The ranka twitched. Kasshi let out a gasp of surprise. Just to make sure she wasn't mistaken, she waited. Before long, the ranka twitched again. It was time, almost exactly ten months since Kasshi herself had been born. But just to make extra sure, she waited for it to twitch one more time. When it did, she turned her head towards the nyosen below, and shouted as loud as she could. "She's coming!" Those who heard her ran to gather others, creating quite a fuss down the mountain, but Kasshi didn't mind them. She barely even noticed them.

It happened rapidly now. The ranka twitched, twitched, twitched. Soon it was a constant motion. Kasshi watched with bated breath, feeling pressure build up in her, her whole existence collapsing on a single moment. She didn't even notice the nyosen gathering, Enrin and Oukou. She didn't care. Her purpose for life was coming, and she couldn't wait to lay eyes upon her.

Suddenly, the ranka spilled open, and a new creature poured out, covered in the fluids of its birth. Before she could hit the ground, Kasshi caught her. The creature was gasping in her first breaths, twitching much as the ranka had before. Without even looking, Kasshi grabbed a towel from a nearby nyosen. Carefully, gently, she wiped clean the panting Kirin. For this was a Kirin, a special Kirin, enough so that the nyosen had burst into chatter as soon as the creature was revealed. She was four legged, looking much like a deer, but with the mane of a horse sprouting from the back of her long neck.

But what made her unique was her color: this was a red Kirin. The body was a pale red, almost pink, with a mane the deep crimson of cold fire, so short in her young age that it was barely visible. The hoofs were black, matching a few scattered spots elsewhere on her body and a long patch on her back. Red Kirin were rare; not so rare as black, but rare all the same. There would be much talk of this for years.

But Kasshi didn't care about that. She couldn't stop staring at her Kirin, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen—the most beautiful thing she would ever see, she was sure. She hugged the small Kirin—so small!—to her chest, gently stroking her. Kasshi's body was shaking, matching her little Kirin. And flooding through Kasshi was the most rapturous feeling of happiness, of contentment, greater than she could have imagined, so powerful she was dizzy with it. And peace. She could finally start to fulfill her purpose, her duty.

And so Kyourin was born into this world.

* * *

_I started writing this earlier this week, and it's already 20k words in, so I thought I would post it. It's my first fanfic, so be kind. And may I say how much it annoys me that this is under anime, not books :/  
_

_When I make up names for this, I come up with characters for them. I speak Japanese to a good-enough-I-know-how-stupid-I-sound degree, so yeah. I'll always put the kanji for my invented names at the bottom of the page the first time they show up._

Kasshi: 赫子


	2. Chapter One

"Kyourin."

The voice was less gentle than usual, stern, as though chastising. Kyourin felt herself flinch, and she forced her feet to stop kicking under her desk. "Yes, Kashou."

"You have to focus." This was Kashou talking, one of Kyourin's less favorite nyosen. Kashou had been charged with teaching Kyourin to read and write, and she really didn't like it.

Kyourin spoke, trying not to whine. "Why do I need to write anyway? This is stupid."

Kashou let out a sigh. They had this discussion frequently, and Kyourin was sure Kashou was tired of it by now. "We've talked about this. You have to read and write so you can effectively advise your king in ruling Kyou."

"Well, it's stupid." Kyourin slumped over the desk, letting her cheek rest on the surface. "Why couldn't Tentei just stick this in my head? _Pop_, know everything."

"Kyourin, you're going to get ink on your face." At Kashou's words, Kyourin let out her own sigh, and sat back up. "Now keep going. Finish this set and you can go play."

Kyourin straightened in her seat, and focused on her writing with new determination. Having figured out how to shift into human form a few years ago, Kyourin still looked like a child of eight, matching her age. She was lean and long-limbed—the nyosen were sure that, should she age to human maturity, she would be thin and rather tall. She had a sharp face and narrow, intelligent eyes. Her straight, deep red mane fell to her shoulders. When she sat it was with a rigidity, as though she were fighting to withstrain great energy.

If anything, Kyourin was even less focused than usual. There was an understandable reason for that. Houzan seemed filled with a nervous, excited energy as preparations were made. The Reigon Gate had opened some time ago, and the multitude of people on their shouzan were approaching, the last batch having already left. The shouzan, an event held four-times yearly, was always a time of anticipation and excitement. Everyone was looking forward to Houzan's most intimate contact with the outside world, to meeting new people from interesting places. Also, people were hoping Enrin would choose a king or queen in these next few weeks, and were wondering what kind of person the new ruler of En could be. Everyone was excited, especially Kyourin. Kyourin had told no one but Kasshi and her shirei, but she had a plan for this shouzan, and it was going to be very fun.

So she needed to contain herself until that happened. Kyourin tried to focus as best she could, and copied out the characters. She was sure she had to know several hundreds by now, maybe even a few thousands. She had been assigned things to read; she had stopped reading stories meant for children a while ago and had moved on to history texts, which were still a little hard to get through. These last few months, her vocabulary had increased by leaps and bounds—she liked leaping and bounding—but it wasn't enough for Kashou. It was never enough for Kashou.

By some miracle she made it to the end of the set. She slammed her brush down, and shouted, "Done!" She turned to spring out of her chair.

"Wait a second." Grumbling to herself, Kyourin sank back into her chair. Kashou reached around her to pick up the paper. For a few seconds, she examined Kyourin's work. "Good enough," she said. "You can go now."

Before the sentence was even finished, Kyourin was already out the doorway of the room. She ran through the pagoda with Kasshi, who had joined her just outside the doorway, at her side. Soon they burst out into the breeze and sunshine, out onto the grass. Kyourin impatiently scrabbled at her clothes, eventually getting them off. She threw her robe to the ground,and before it had even hit the dirt, was already transformed into the Kirin that was her true shape.

Kyourin moved around too much for anyone other than Kirin to keep up with her, and had been so for as long as she could run. She ran all over the mountain, crossing grassy spots as fast as she could, leaping from boulder to boulder in the stony areas. After simply running for a while, she went down to a nearby forest, and went hunting for youma. After a while hunting, she ended up in a contest of wills with a pretty big, dangerous-looking cat-like youma she didn't know the name of. It bested her though, so she ended up fleeing the monster back toward the safe areas of the mountain. She lost it in the maze after a little effort, guided by Nansou. Nansou was still smarter than her, but Kyourin was sure she would catch up eventually. It would have been easier to fly away—nothing can match a Kirin in flight—but it would have been _too_ easy.

It was while crossing a grassy area bordering a stream on the way back that she ran into Enrin. Enrin was sitting in the middle of the grass in her human form, a rather small teenager with a long golden mane. For a little while, Kyourin ran and jumped in a circle around Enrin, but she didn't even look away from the horizon. Eventually, she grew bored of that. She shifted into human form and took a seat on the grass next to Enrin. "Hi."

"You lost your clothes," Enrin said immediately.

"I didn't lose them."

"That so?"

"I know where they are. They're just not on me."

Kyourin saw a slight smile on Enrin's face. That was an accomplishment; Enrin didn't smile very often. It quickly vanished. "The nyosen won't be pleased that you're running around naked again."

"How else am I suppose to run around?"

There was a short pause as Enrin thought. It was hard to keep track of one's clothes while four-legged. "Good point."

For a while they sat in silence. Kyourin played around with pieces of grass, while Kasshi played with her mane. It kind of tickled, but she was pretty much used to it; Kasshi played with her mane a lot, ever since she had learned to take human form. A lot of people seemed to pay special attention to her mane. She wondered if it was because she was a red Kirin. She knew Kirin like her were pretty rare, and also rather unusual, though she had never been told exactly why.

Kyourin was bored again. "Where's Oukou?"

"Around," Enrin said with a shrug. "I wanted to be alone."

"Oh, sorry." Kyourin made to get up.

"No, it's okay. You can stay."

"Okay. Do you want Kasshi to leave?"

"She can stay."

"Okay." Kyourin was confused. If Enrin said she wanted to be alone, and had even sent Oukou away, why was she okay with the two of them staying? Was she having a fight with Oukou? But that was impossible. Kirin and their nyokai were always together, and never fought. Or so she had been told. As Kyourin understood it, nyokai worshiped their Kirin, and could never be angry with them, at least not to this degree. So what was going on? Kyourin decided to say, "You're sad."

The answer took a while in coming. "Yes."

"Why?"

"En."

Kyourin frowned. That was even less of an answer than she usually got from Enrin. "What about En?"

"My kingdom is suffering." This was true. When one of the twelve kingdoms were without a king, like Kyou and En were now, or simply when the king lost his Way, various problems befell the kingdom. Infestations of youma, natural disasters, famine, plague. It wasn't pleasant. Three kingdoms at the moment were in an especially sorry state: En, Kyou, and Ren, where Renki was in shitsudou. It was pity for the people of En that made the nyosen and others wish so powerfully for Enrin to choose a king. They were considering signaling Kyou to raise their flags as well, though Kyourin was still young. "I'm worried."

"Of course." Kyourin paused a moment, thinking. "Why?"

"Shouzan."

"Yes?"

Enrin let out a long sigh. "What if nothing happens again? What if all these people come by me and none of them are the king? What do I do then? En has been in such a terrible state for so long and there's nothing I can do to speed its recovery."

That was certainly something to think about. But Kyourin didn't have to think. "It will happen when it's supposed to happen."

"What?"

"You'll choose your king when Tentei tells you to. When it's meant to happen. That's all."

Now it was Enrin pausing to think. It was a pretty long pause, too, filled with nothing but the sounds of the breeze. Kyourin stopped playing with the grass and leaned backward into Kasshi, feeling her warmth on her skin. Finally Enrin let out another sigh. "You believe in Tentei that much?"

"Of course."

"Hmm." Another pause, shorter this time. "I suppose I can try to take it on faith."

"It'll happen."

"It'll happen," Enrin agreed. "It's about dinner time."

Kyourin glanced toward the sun. "It is."

With ease and grace, Enrin popped to her feet. "Think you can find your clothes?"

Kyourin scrambled to standing next to her. "Yeah. I have a few sets."

"Cheater."

From where they were, it was a pretty simple walk back to the main part of the palace; neither even bothered shifting. Enrin would lose her clothes too if they did, anyway. As soon as they got back, various nyosen started chastising or teasing Kyourin for abandoning her clothes again. Kyourin suspected Enrin was laughing at her on the inside. Before being allowed in the pagoda they usually ate in, Kyourin was redirected to her bedroom, where she was dressed again. Then she was led back to eat. Enrin was already there, with Oukou. That's good. She would be sad if they weren't getting along. Kyourin and Enrin ate, all the while Kyourin trying to get a reaction out of Enrin. She just met her antics with the usual stony silence and occasional raised eyebrow. That was no fun.

After they were done eating, Kyourin was to take part in another part of her education. This one was fun, though. The nyosen kept a variety of strategy games around, and she liked challenging them. She liked one in particular, one that involved placing white and black rocks on a grid. She had been given differing reports on what it was called, so she simply called it kokki, "rock-game". She had been told this was another part of her education, teaching her to think logically and flexibly, but she wasn't sure she believed it. It was too fun to be work.

It was a little frustrating though. When she had first played the game, she had been completely annihilated. The second time she had played, the game had been a close match. And it had been a close match every time she had played since. She was sure she was getting better, though. She suspected the nyosen she usually played with, Sekto, was toying with her, playing at a gradually increasing level as Kyourin improved. It was pretty frustrating. Not so frustrating it wasn't fun, but frustrating. Every once in a while, Sekto would barely lose a game, but she was sure it was intentional. But even that egged her on, demanded of her to do better, to make Sekto lose a game that wasn't intentional. She was sure she would know it when it happened. Pacifying shirei was actually good practice for the game; the force of will necessary was similar. Odd, that. Sekto, and the other nyosen who played strategy games with her, insisted she was very good for her age—though they didn't specify if they meant compared to Kirin or humans. Not that it mattered, she guessed.

They were still playing when the sun set. She and Sekto kept playing until the game was over, which took until the sky had mostly darkened. Kyourin lost again. Sekto directed her back to her pagoda. Since they had gotten closer playing kokki, Sekto had been absorbed into the small group that was more directly involved in Kyourin's care, so it was Sekto that put her to bed. That seemed to happen a lot these days. Kyourin had no complaints; she rather liked Sekto. Soon Kyourin was settled into bed, and she was left alone.

She waited a moment to be sure Sekto was out of earshot. "Nansou," she hissed under her breath.

"Taiho," came the reply, just as quiet, from the shadows near her head.

"Tell me when the coast is clear."

"Understood." Was that amusement in his voice? or disapproval? It could be so hard to tell with shirei. If she asked Kasshi she knew she would be met with disapproval; Kasshi never took delight in her schemes, always worried for her safety. Boring.

Slowly, as silently as she could, she slipped out of her bed. She moved to where her clothes were kept. She had alternately heard it called a closet and a wardrobe; she hadn't decided which term she liked better. It didn't really matter for the purposes of tonight, so she randomly picked out a set. At the hiss of her name, Kasshi took the bundle of clothes, and with a gesture of Kyourin's eyes, Kasshi slid into her shadow. Good, the clothes had gone with her; test one was successful. Halfway there.

"Leave now, Taiho," again came Nansou's rumble of a voice. "South." Kyourin did as her shirei directed, and ran as quietly as she could out of the pagoda, and to the south. She slipped into the labyrinth; almost immediately, Nansou told her to make a westerly turn, so she did. Once Kyourin decided they were isolated enough, she shifted. She sprinted around in a circle, following Nansou's instructions to avoid the nyosen, and even took a short stint in the air. Before long she returned to the ground, and stopped.

She shifted back. "Kasshi," she said immediately, anticipation on her voice.

Kasshi reappeared. With the clothes in her arms. Test two was successful.

Yes, this was going to be a lot of fun. Kyourin couldn't wait.

* * *

Kashou: 夏咲

Oukou: 黌簧

Sekto: 石渡

Nansou: 難爪


	3. Chapter Two

It was a couple days later that the people on their shouzan started reaching the Meadow-Path Villa. Every once in a while, in her free time, Kyourin would hop on top of one of the pillars of rock near the gate to watch them. At the center of the field just outside the gate was a small building. Inside, she knew, was a place for the Kirin to sit and watch as hopefuls lit incense and prayed, checking each one. It sounded like a pain to her, sitting in one place like that, but whatever. Surrounding the villa was a gradually growing sea of tents. They were of all colors, many of which with flags raised, likely proclaiming allegiances. Kyourin didn't recognize any of the flags; she was familiar with some of that type of symbol in Kyou, but of course it was different in En.

Within the sea of tents were people, more people than she had ever seen. Wandering back and forth, gathering, talking about things she could only imagine. She even noticed a couple children. For a moment she thought it was weird that people would bring their children on such a dangerous trip. But then she reasoned that En at the moment had to be just as dangerous, so the parents probably felt safer with their children at their side. This was good. If there were other children, it would be easier for her to blend in.

Today was the day. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She took a moment longer observing the camp, checking for where the children gathered. It would be interesting to interact with children her age. She picked out one group in particular, who seemed to be playing some kind of game involving a feathered ball. She would start there.

She descended the rock, and, at Nansou's direction, weaved a path through the maze toward an edge of the inner palace a few degrees removed from the camp. She shifted, and leaped over the barrier. For a short while she ran in a circle around the camp, until she approached the path the people were ascending. She stopped, shifted back. She called for Kasshi, and took the clothes she was carrying. For the occasion, she had chosen her simplest clothes, a set she had for on days she felt like doing some particularly messy playing around. They still fit. She didn't even bother covering her mane; she doubted people would recognize her as a Kirin. She wandered a short distance further until she came to the path.

People, people, people. There weren't as many as there were gathered in the meadow, those traveling now fallen to a trickle, but it was still as many people as she had ever seen at once. Their clothes were all foreign to her, but it was easy to tell by their quality that there was a good spectrum of rich and poor. Some even wore armor. Their faces ranged from the hard military type, the soft feminine type, to the fat wealthy type. Their hair and eyes were in all different colors; she even noticed someone with hair a similar color to her own, though a bit lighter in shade. She took another moment to observe the people. She took in as many details as she could—how they looked, how they walked, how they talked.

Then, as nonchalantly as possible, she wandered away from the darkness and onto the path, slipping behind a group of people on youjuu. She had seen this type of youjuu in the Koukai before. These were tenba, basically big dogs with wings. They were common, and not particularly dangerous, though they could fly pretty fast. She wondered why they were walking with everyone else when they could have just flown up. No one much took notice of a single child joining the line. Or so she had thought.

"You, kid," came a gruff voice from behind her.

She turned so she was walking backwards. The person talking was a woman; her rough understanding of the appearance of physical age suggested middle age. She had a weathered face and grainy brown hair, and sharp green eyes. Kyourin couldn't decide if her expression was one of concern or annoyance. She was still learning how to figure out facial expressions. The feeling she got, though, was that it was both. "Yes?"

"What are you doing out here alone?"

"My parents are in the camp," Kyourin said, gesturing behind her, toward the camp.

"That's not what I meant," the woman said, her annoyance side rising a little. "What are you doing wandering around the Koukai?"

"Exploring." Kyourin shrugged.

"Stupid child. There are youma in the Koukai."

Oh, right. She had forgotten that human children would have to be quite stupid to go wandering the Koukai, what with all the youma about. It was hardly a concern for her anymore, what with all the shirei she had and how fast she could fly. "People say that a lot," she decided to mutter.

"What? That you're stupid?"

"Yes, that."

The woman made a gesture; Kyourin understood she was telling her to come walk next to her, instead of walking backwards the way she was. Kyourin did. "So, what's your name, girl?"

Kyourin had prepared for this question. "Aku," she said immediately. It was written 'beloved crimson'. She thought it was pretty, and if one can pick their own name it may as well be something pretty. Not that anyone would be able to tell how it was written by how it sounds.

"Aku. So, Aku, who are your parents?"

"Oh, just minor functionaries in Tei Province." She had picked the province at random. At first she had picked one in Kyou, but then caught herself just this morning.

"Sennin?" asked the woman. She looked a little surprised. It took Kyourin a short while to figure out why; she probably shouldn't have used the word 'functionaries'. Not age-appropriate. Oh well. The woman would probably just assume her parents took her education seriously. Which she supposed was true, under a certain perspective.

"Nope. I'm just a normal eight-year-old." She heard a couple of her shirei laughing in her head; it took a fair bit of control to not laugh with them.

"You don't talk like a normal eight year old."

Whoops. "My parents take my education very seriously. They hope I can have a position higher in the government." That was also somewhat true. This lying thing was easier than she had thought it would be. It looked like she would be able to get by with half lies. "So, what's your name?"

"In'ou," the woman said with a smile. She supposed the woman was waiting to see how long it would take her to ask. Apparently the length of time was funny for some reason. "I'm just a normal farmer. My husband is a soldier. He thought he would try his luck with the Taiho."

"Well, good luck to him. Where he is?" Kyourin looked around, as though expecting to find someone she didn't know what he looked like.

In'ou shrugged. "With his soldier friends. I decided to walk ahead of them this last stretch."

"You don't like them."

"No, I don't."

"Do you think they smell like blood?"

In'ou blinked at her, frowning a little. "Smell like blood?"

Realizing her mistake, Kyourin shrugged a little. "If he smells like blood Enrin might not like him." She had been thinking if he smelled like blood she wouldn't want to be around him herself, but it was a good cover.

"No, I guess not. You're an interesting child, Aku."

Kyourin felt the ridiculous smile on her face. "Thank you!"

For the first time, In'ou let out a little chuckle. This person wasn't quite as reserved as Enrin, but Kyourin still felt she had accomplished something in making her laugh. "I was wondering if you had time for tea. After I find a spot with my husband, I was going to make us some. But you should probably get back to your parents."

She was so interesting In'ou wanted to have tea with her? Well, that was okay, she could do that. Interacting with people was exactly why she had come down here. Wasn't it kind of strange for an adult to have tea with a child? She didn't really know how this kind of thing worked in the outside world. She shrugged internally, and said, "Sure! My parents gave me leave to do whatever I wanted." That wasn't entirely true; she had been given free reign while preparations were made, but she wasn't supposed to leave the inner palace.

So the two of them stopped at the side of the path to the meadow. They talked intermittently about random things, mostly Koukai and the palace. Kyourin tried very hard to not act more knowledgeable about the palace than Aku should be, but it was hard. Before too long, her husband showed up, a man named Rou. He was big and broad-shouldered, wearing the simple armor of a provincial soldier. At least that's what it looked like. To Kyourin's distaste, he was carrying a sword. To her further distaste, as he approached, she could smell the very faint scent of blood on him. It was thin enough, old enough, it didn't affect her, but she still had to fight the urge to squeeze her nose shut with a hand. Rou, too, wanted to know where her parents were, so Kyourin pointed in a random direction across the meadow. That seemed to be enough for him.

Rou and his soldier friends moved into the meadow to pick a spot, In'ou and Kyourin trailing behind. While they set up tents and stuff, In'ou ran off to collect water for boiling and wood for burning. Before long she returned, and quickly had a fire going. It wasn't long later that tea was prepared. When Rou sat down with them, Kyourin flinched. As casually as possible, she stood up, walked around in a little circle, pretending to check out her surroundings, then sat down again on In'ou's other side. Now she was crosswind of Rou. That was much better. In'ou gave her a weird look, but didn't say anything.

And so they talked over tea. A lot of it was over Kyourin's head—talk about various things going on in En, who showed up, who they thought was likely to be selected, things like that. There were things she could talk about, like the different kinds of people that showed up, the various youjuu, how colorful and exciting everything was. Rou said that it better be exciting up here: they had lost a number of lives going through Koukai. The thought struck Kyourin anew. She spent so much time in Koukai she never really thought of it as that dangerous, but of course humans would have trouble in it. She suddenly felt a little guilty for sneaking out to enjoy this time, knowing that people had died for it. She shook it off as best she could. Eventually the tea was drunk, and Rou and In'ou had to set up their tents and stuff, so Kyourin decided to dismiss herself. In'ou, for some reason or another, gave her a parting gift: a riceball. She left with a promise to see them again in a day or two—and by 'them' Kyourin meant In'ou, who she decided she kind of liked—and wandered off into the crowd, munching on her riceball. It was pretty good; it was seasoned in a way she hadn't had before. Food on Houzan was usually pretty plain.

So she wandered the camp. She flitted from thing to thing—tethered youjuu, chatting soldiers, people gathered around food. Luckily no one was slaughtering or cooking any meat—due to Kirin sensibilities, most forms of meat were banned on Houzan—but there was still the faint scent of blood in the air, worse in some areas than others. Those places she tended not to stay in very long.

Eventually, she ran into a small group of children; she supposed those were their parents chatting here and there around them. They were in the middle of an open space, playing some kind of game. There was a small ball, with feathers affixed to it every so many degrees. The kids were, with lesser or greater degrees of clumsiness correlated to their age, kicking it repeatedly into the air. Kyourin quickly figured out the rules: the object of the game was to keep the ball in the air for as many hits as possible without using the hands.

When someone messed up and the ball fell to the ground, Kyourin stepped toward them. "What are you playing?"

The kids give her weird looks, as though it should be obvious, but one of them answered anyway. "Shukukon," he said.

"Can I play?"

"Yeah, sure," another boy said.

Kyourin, with a wide smile, bounded over to join them. At first, she was pretty terrible at the game; she would miss the ball every time it was passed at her. But she quickly adapted to it. By the time she was starting to get hungry again, she was about par with the rest of them. It was pretty fun, she enjoyed it. If they were playing tomorrow, she would probably come play with them again. Just as Kyourin was about to leave, the parents came to split the game up, saying it was time to eat. Perfect. She was just about to pass the ball back to the owner—with her foot, of course—when there was a shout behind her.

"Kyourin!"

Kyourin flinched. The ball thudded down against the ground. The shout brought a sudden silence in the crowd around her. "Yes, Kashou?" she said over her shoulder. Of course, it had to be Kashou who had found her.

"What are you doing out here, Kyourin?"

Quietly enough so the nyosen wouldn't hear it, she repeated a word she had heard today that she was sure was a swear. That was Teiyei, one of the more senior nyosen, with authority to match. "Um, playing?"

She turned around to find a small group of nyosen, including an annoyed Teiyei and a more furious Kashou, coming to a stop shortly before her. "Are you supposed to leave the inner palace?"

"I go to Koukai all the time."

"This isn't Koukai."

"No. This is even less dangerous than Koukai. Perfectly safe." She looked around her. Some people were prostrating themselves, but more seemed a little confused. She supposed it was because of the color of her mane that so many weren't sure what was going on. "Oh, stand up," she said to them. "_Kyou_rin, _Kyou_. Not your Taiho. _En_rin is inside."

Teiyei let out a long sigh. "Come on, Kyourin. It's time to eat."

"I was just leaving." She turned to the kids, who were all in the confused category. "I'll be back to play tomorrow."

"She will not," said Kashou.

Before following the nyosen out, Kyourin hissed to the kids, "Yes, I will." Then she scampered towards the nyosen, who immediately formed a protective box around her. As they starting guiding her away, one of the kids yelled "Bye, Aku!" at her back. Kyourin turned around to give a big energetic wave before turning back forward.

"Aku?" said Teiyei. It could be Kyourin's imagination, but she sounded a little amused to her.

"I came up with a name," Kyourin said simply. "You know, so they don't know it's me."

"I suppose we ruined your fun."

"Pretty much."

"Hmm." For a while they walked in silence. Kyourin noticed the people they passed didn't really know what to think about a girl with red hair being escorted by nyosen. It was possible a lot of people didn't even know about red Kirin, as they were pretty rare. "You really shouldn't be sneaking off by yourself."

"But I go to Koukai by myself all the time."

"It's not the same thing," said Kashou.

"It's not. There aren't even any youma. Perfectly safe."

"Yes, but—"

"I'll allow it," Teiyei interrupted.

Kyourin felt the excited, victorious smile spread on her own face. "Really?"

"Yes."

Kashou sputtered for a moment. "Teiyei, you can't seriously think this is a good idea."

"I don't see the harm in it. But we're putting the flags up in Kyou. If you're old enough to sneak around you're old enough to select a king."

"Seems fair," Kyourin agreed. Really, the flags should go up anyway. She might be old enough, and the sooner she selected a king, the better it would be for Kyou. And, if Enrin were any indication, it would take a long time for her to find her king anyway. The sooner they started, the better. And she got to have fun. Win-win. "No escort?"

Teiyei took a moment to consider. "No escort," she agreed. "But we'll be watching you."

Kashou didn't much like that, either.

* * *

Aku: 愛紅

In'ou: 音桜

Rou: 労

shukukon: 蹴羽根


	4. Chapter Three

Eating dinner that night, Kyourin actually managed to hold a conversation with Enrin. Enrin was quiet and reserved, and would very rarely have a whole conversation, but this time it happened. Kyourin was talking about what she had done in the camp, and Enrin found it fascinating. She had always been escorted, and with her golden mane, everyone had immediately known she was a Kirin, but Kyourin had been able to go anonymously. Enrin had questions about how the people were like, and what she had done, and how people talked, and all kinds of things Enrin had never been exposed to. It was a fun little talk.

As she was leaving the pagoda to play her games with Sekto, she took a glance up the mountain and noticed something that made her heart clench. Without even thinking, she shifted, and sprung up into the air. She flew on up the mountain until she reached the Shashinboku, where she cantered down to a halt. Her glimpse from a distance hadn't been mistaken: there was a tiny ranka on a branch. Kyourin felt a crushing sadness. A Kirin had died.

There, just under the fruit, was a nyokai. She must have been born earlier today. She was a scaly, feathery woman, winged like Kasshi. "Ren?" she asked the nyokai.

The nyokai didn't even look at her. "Renki," she muttered, with the typical nyokai adoration.

For a long moment, Kyourin just stared at the ranka. Then with an internalized sigh, she turned back toward the palace, and flew back to where she had left her clothes. She shifted back and dressed herself again. A little downcast, suddenly bereft of her usual energy, she went to the pagoda where she played her games with Sekto. She slumped into her seat. She had gotten there a little earlier than Sekto, so she just sat there, staring at the surface of the table.

"More morose than usual, I see," came Sekto's voice after a while. Kyourin wasn't sure how long it had been.

"I'm sad," Kyourin admitted.

"I see that." Sounds came from the table; Kyourin recognized them as the ones that preceded kokki. "What's wrong? I thought you had fun in the Villa today."

Kyourin decided to tell the truth. "There's a ranka on the tree."

"Ah." Apparently, Sekto needed no more explanation than that.

"Ren-Ou killed Renki."

Kyourin knew without looking up, from the pause in the setting up of the game, that Sekto was surprised. "Killed?"

"Renki was under shitsudou."

"Yes," Sekto said cautiously.

"Ren-Ou killed Renki."

"Kyourin." She understood what Sekto was asking; she looked up. She thought Sekto was one of the prettier of the nyosen, with shiny black hair, wide eyes, and a cute nose. Right now, Sekto was wearing a serious sort of smile. "It's the way things are, Kyourin. It is the duty of the Kirin to live and die with and for their kingdom. And yes, it is the actions of the king that bring on shitsudou. Such is the Will of Heaven."

"It's not fair," Kyourin said, frowning a little.

To her surprise, Sekto let out a little laugh. She placed a container full of white stones in front of Kyourin. "I suppose it isn't fair to the Kirin. But it's the duty you were made for. One day, barring violence, you will fall under shitsudou. Kyou-Ou will 'kill' you. And when the time comes, you will die with grace. Because that is what Kirin do."

Kyourin could tell that Sekto wasn't entirely pleased with this. She got a distinct impression of sadness, and she knew that, come the day Kyourin died, Sekto would be sad for her. The thought made her feel a little better. "It's still not fair."

"Death never is."

They started playing. Kyourin let a few turns go by before speaking. "Did you know the previous Kyou Taiho?"

Sekto hesitated a second, but only a second. "I wasn't directly involved in his care, but yes."

"What was he like?"

"Quiet. Polite. So the opposite of you."

Kyourin let out a giggle. She stared at the board for a moment before making her move and speaking again. "How old was he when he picked his king?"

"Are you worrying about that already?" asked Sekto with a frown.

"Teiyei says they're raising the flags in Kyou."

Sekto's eyes widened, and her hand froze halfway to the board. After a few seconds, she continued to place the stone. "I don't remember. Late teens, I think. It's pretty rare that the king comes the first shouzan."

Cheered up already, Kyourin started kicking her legs under the table. "Did you know the Kyou Taiho before that?"

"Yes, though I don't remember him very well. It was a while ago, and again, I wasn't directly involved in his care."

"What was he like?"

"The opposite of you again. Like a normal Kirin."

"I'm not normal?"

"Red Kirin are strange. You'll find out why when you're older."

That was a weird thing to say, but Kyourin decided to ignore it. "Do you remember the Kyou Taiho before that?" She thought another moment, then placed a stone.

"No, that was before—" Sekto broke off, staring at the board. For several long moments, she analyzed the positions of the various stones, clearly thinking through her next move. "That is really frustrating."

"What?"

"That move you just made."

"What about it?"

"It was really good. It ruined my entire plan."

"Yay!" she yelled, drawing the word out. "I beat you!"

"Not yet, you didn't."

"No, but I'm calling this a victory anyway."

"You do that." Sekto thought another moment before placing another stone.

They played a few more moves in silence, Kyourin energetically kicking her feet under the table. She hit the center post a few times, which hurt a little bit, but that was okay. "Where do nyosen come from?"

Again, Kyourin found Sekto frowning at her. "What?"

"I've been wondering. Where do nyosen come from? Is there a tree somewhere?"

For a moment longer, Sekto frowned at her, before returning to the game. "We come from normal riboku like all humans. We pray for Seioubo to choose us to become nyosen."

"So you're just normal humans?"

"Well, we're sennin, of course."

"Of course." She didn't know why it made sense for those who cared for the Kirin to be immortals, but it just felt right to her. "So you prayed to be a nyosen?"

Sekto shrugged. "I assume so. It was so long ago."

"How old are you?"

Again, Sekto shrugged. "I'm not sure. At least three hundred."

"Why are red Kirin strange?"

At that Sekto let out a short laugh. She shook her head to herself as she placed a stone. "You'll find out when you're older."

"That's what everyone always says. Have you known a red Kirin before?"

"Yes, one. Souki."

"The current Souki?"

"No. He died a long time ago. I only met him when he visited once anyway. There aren't any other red Kirin right now."

"I didn't think so."

"You're special." Kyourin got the impression she was teasing.

They played well into the night, as they always did, Kyourin working to keep up a running conversation. That first game was one of the ones where Kyourin barely won, and she felt this time that it was more of an accomplishment than usual. It almost felt like Sekto was actually trying. She lost the rest, of course. What felt like not so long later, it was dark, and time to go to bed. Sekto put her to bed again. Kyourin fell asleep as she always did: amidst a pile created by Kasshi and the more fuzzy of her shirei. As she did, her thoughts were on tomorrow, and what sort of fun and trouble she'd be able to get herself into.

Kyourin got up with even more energy than usual. She was going into the Villa again, to be with all those people! It was so exciting. She had done it once already, but that didn't make her any less excited. She got herself dressed before the nyosen even got to her room, and was in the pagoda ready for breakfast before someone came to fetch her.

At breakfast, Enrin, dressed in her pretty clothes mostly reserved for this occasion, was even more reserved than usual. She didn't say a word, and she never made eye contact. She was like this before every trip to the Villa, so after a few years Kyourin was pretty used to it. It made her a little sad though. Come time, Enrin would be advising her king in the ruling of an entire kingdom, and herself running a province. Could she really do much of a job of it with a temperament such as hers? She was a little worried for the older Kirin, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

She was about to run out to the Villa when the nyosen stopped her. She would be going out the gate properly this time, she was told. So she waited for everyone else to get ready, then walked toward the gate with Enrin and a group of nyosen. As they passed through the gate into the meadow, the nyosen formed a box around Enrin, with Kyourin hanging around toward the back. The people all around the meadow, at least those with an unobstructed view, stopped what they were doing and dropped to the ground. They prostrated themselves, foreheads against the dirt. If Kyourin had to do that all the time she was sure she would make a habit of making silly faces into the ground where the object of her respect couldn't see her. She wondered how many people were doing exactly that.

As their column made toward the villa, a figure rapidly shot out from the crowd, then dropped back to the ground in the path of their group. The nyosen parted around him, and Enrin stopped right in front of him. He spouted off nonsense about how honored he was to see the Taiho, even though he wasn't even looking at her, what an honor it was to be here, blah blah blah. Enrin quickly interrupted him with the ritual no-thanks phrase before stepping around him to continue on. As Kyourin passed the rejected man by, she bent over to give him a couple reassuring pats on the back. The nyosen gave her weird looks for that.

Their column was now entering the Villa. She had already decided she didn't want to be in that stuffy place, so she split off from their group a short distance from the door. With gentle steps she slipped between the rows of prostrate people. Quickly she worked her way around toward the back of the Villa. Here, the people were not on the ground. She tried to lose herself in the crowd as much as possible, hoping people would lose their association between her and Enrin. Hopefully she could go today as well without people realizing she was Kyourin. Judging by how people over here were not looking at her, it was working just fine. She finally realized that, by the colors and style she was wearing, they probably just thought she was a tiny nyosen. Though nyosen all bound her hair, and Kirin always kept theirs free—even simply parting her mane differently than it naturally fell made her uncomfortable—but she didn't expect normal people to know that.

She spent most of the morning simply observing what was going on. People walking back and forth, people chatting, people doing chores around camp, people eating late breakfasts. People lining up to enter the Villa, people with disappointed, some crushed, expressions on their faces as they left. Poor people; she couldn't imagine what it was like to have those hopes dashed. For a little while she went from youjuu to youjuu, giving them cursory examinations and little affectionate pats. A couple owners expressed surprise that they took to her like they did, but she was a Kirin, and pretty much all animals adored Kirin. Something about that touch of the holy in them. Of course, she just said animals liked her, without that explanation.

Eventually she decided to go to In'ou's camp. On the way, a nyosen came by her, and silently passed her a riceball before wandering off again. It was pretty late in the day. Kyourin said a "Thank you" to her back before devouring the thing. Around the time she finished, she arrived at In'ou's camp. In'ou was there, reading a book. Kyourin walked over, and plopped down to sitting right next to her. "Hi."

"Hey, Aku," she said, sounding a little distracted. After a few moments, she put the book down. "I wasn't sure I'd see you again."

Kyourin shrugged. "I kind of like you."

"Why?" said In'ou after a derisive snort.

"I'm not sure," Kyourin said honestly.

"Mm." With nothing further, In'ou stood up and took a step toward her tent.

"What are you doing?" Kyourin was worried she had somehow offended her, what with her getting up like that all of a sudden.

In'ou waved a pot in the air. "Making tea."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Kyourin said, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. "I just came to talk. Say hi."

"It's time for tea anyway. Be right back." Again, In'ou ran off to get water and kindling. While she was gone, Kyourin just gazed around the camp, taking in her ever-changing surroundings. Before too long, In'ou was back. "I would offer to feed you too, but I see your parents already fed you."

That was true, in a manner of speaking. "How'd you know?" Without saying a word, In'ou reached a hand over, and plucked something off her face. She showed it to her: a grain of rice. "Oh, whoops."

In'ou's hand retracted. For an absurd moment, Kyourin thought the woman was going to eat the rice she had taken from Kyourin's face, but in the end she flicked it away in a random direction. "You may not talk like a child sometimes, but you certainly are one."

"I certainly am. Is Rou in line?"

In'ou nodded. "He shouldn't get his hopes up. He's a good man, but I don't think he's kingly material."

"Don't you want to try too?"

For a moment, In'ou couldn't respond, as she was too busy laughing. "No, no I'm not queenly material either. There's no way I could ever see me ruling a kingdom."

"Kings and queens are taken from all walks of life."

"Kirin would know, I guess."

Kyourin jolted in surprise. What had she done to give herself away? And this was supposed to be a normal, human-human interaction. Whoops. "Did you see me with Enrin?"

In'ou, just getting the fire going, shook her head. "I was busy when the Taiho came in. I knew yesterday. I thought I wouldn't let on that I knew, but yeah."

"What?"

"It was pretty obvious," said In'ou said with a shrug. "Kid wandering out of Koukai without escort, expensive but simple clothes, speaks like an adult, talks to an adult like an equal. On Houzan, to me, that spells Kirin. Even with the hair color, I knew. Are there many red Kirin? or did you dye your hair?"

Kyourin was a little annoyed she had been found out so easily. But oh well. "We're pretty rare. And Kirin manes don't dye. It just doesn't stick."

"Yes, of course it wouldn't." The tea set up, In'ou sat back down next to Kyourin. "We probably shouldn't tell my husband, though. He wouldn't be able to complete a sentence around you."

"You're still treating me like normal."

In'ou turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "If you had wanted me to treat you like a Taiho you wouldn't have tried to hide your identity from me."

"Good point."

"I often have them." For a while they talked, before, during, and after drinking tea. Kyourin felt somewhat more relaxed now that In'ou knew she was a Kirin, even while In'ou continued to call her Aku. Like last time they had had tea, they talked about pretty much whatever, mostly about the people and things they saw around them, since their experiences didn't overlap much. In'ou didn't ask about life on Houzan at all; she supposed she was dropping the whole being a Kirin thing and not mentioning it again.

They had been talking for a while when Rou suddenly showed up. He dropped down on In'ou's other side, and started pouring himself some tea. Kyourin noticed he was downwind this time. "Hello, Aku," he said. His voice was low and depressed-sounding. Kyourin said "hi" back, trying to exude cheerfulness.

"No luck, I see," said In'ou.

"No," the man groaned. "Fucking Kirin. I would have done En good, I know I would have."

"Rou," In'ou drew out warningly.

Kyourin deciphered immediately what she was annoyed at him for. "Is 'fucking' a bad word?"

"Shit," said Rou, as though remembering she was there. "I mean, um, yes."

"That was another bad word, wasn't it?"

"See," In'ou said," this is why we can't have our own children. You would just corrupt them."

"Yes, but I would corrupt them good and proper, like any decent father."

"You want children?" asked Kyourin with her usual excitement.

So they talked about that until In'ou and Rou were good and angry at each other. Kyourin felt a little guilty for that. Eventually Kyourin said her thanks for the tea and started getting up. Before she left, In'ou again gave her a riceball. Kyourin had it vanished before she got very far away. She walked through the meadow, making a winding path toward where the kids had been before. She got a little distracted on the way though.

She heard some shouting coming from a crowd just next to her. Curious what they were shouting at, she turned in that direction, and started wriggling her way toward the center of the crowd. In the middle there was an open space, and in the open space were two men. With swords drawn. Fighting

She didn't even think. If she had been thinking, she would have used her shirei. She ran forward, shouting at the men words even she couldn't understand. She thought she would interpose herself between the men, stop them from fighting, stop this violent nonsense. She felt her shirei moving to help or protect her. Just when she was about to reach them, it was too late. One man broke the other's guard, and his sword sliced through the other's neck. Blood sprayed into the air.

Kirin always had an aversion to blood, though to what degree varied from Kirin to Kirin. Kyourin had seen animal blood twice, so she knew she was particularly sensitive, but she had never seen human blood. She immediately wished she had run away instead of closer. Her entire reality closed in on the sight of it, those little dots of bright red dancing through the air. She was filled with an emotion so powerful it wiped away thought completely. Time stopped, and the rest of the world vanished. All there was was the blood and her total, absolute terror, for all eternity.

An infinite second later, she was face down on the ground. She knew she should be in some sort of pain from falling, but she couldn't feel a thing. She wanted to get up and leave, with her eyes firmly closed, but she couldn't move. She was still horrified; that might have been what held her in place, or it could have been the sudden absence of strength in any of her muscles. There was nothing she could do but lay there and shakily breathe. At least she hadn't fallen on her horn.

"Hey, kid, you alright?" came over the noise of the crowd. Someone grabbed her shoulders and roughly flipped her over. A new sensation slowly seeped into her skin from her shoulders. It was a sort of heat, a prickling hotness that gradually pierced into her. "You okay, kid?" Then happened the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her short life.

Something touched her face. It was the man's hand, checking her for something for some reason, but she didn't know that. It was wet. Kyourin knew immediately, with dread certainty, what it was. If that feeling before had been as needles, this feeling was of knives, a searing heat that stabbed deep into her head and neck. The heat spread through every inch of her in serrated waves, tearing apart her flesh and leaving nothing but heat, dizziness, and nausea. She thought she might throw up. Again, time bent, so it felt like she spent hours in pain and terror when it should have just been seconds, her own mind prolonging her torment.

"Get your bloody hands off the Taiho!" This voice lead a whole new chorus of shouting, but the blood was working deeper into her system. It was the last coherent thing she heard. All sound was reduced to a buzzing, all smell to blood, all emotion to horror, all sensation to heat and pain.

The last thing she knew was the shifting feeling of being lifted from the ground and cradled in someone's arms. A moment later she completely lost consciousness.

* * *

She awoke to someone stroking her face. At first, she was worried it was that man with his bloodied hands again, and she jolted away. The motion brought a sweeping sensation across her entire body, like the pins and needles one got when a body part fell asleep but a hundred times worse. She groaned against it, willing for it to stop. She heard Kasshi's soothing voice, and she realized it was Kasshi's hands on her. That's okay then.

The prickly sensation didn't go away, but it did die down enough that she could mostly ignore it. She was left feeling weak, so weak her muscles trembled against themselves, almost as though she were shivering. She didn't think she would have the strength to open her eyes. She still felt hot, the sharp fire living in her, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. And she thought she might throw up again.

"Are you awake, Kyourin?"

That was Sekto's voice. Kyourin tried to nod, but her neck muscles didn't work. Instead she just made a grunting noise.

Soon there was a hand of a different texture, cooler and smoother, on her face, one she knew must be Sekto's. "Your fever went down." The hand lifted away, too early for Kyourin's taste. "I don't remember you getting blood sickness before, so you probably don't know well how this works. We don't know that well either, really. You will stay here, in this room, until you're fully recovered. When you're strong enough, food and water will be brought to you. I will play whatever game you want with you as long as you like. But you will not leave until you're fully recovered. This isn't a punishment. We just want you to be safe. Blood sickness can be very dangerous. Understand?"

Kyourin made another grunting noise. She hoped Sekto would take that as a 'yes'.

"Next time there's a fight, you run in the opposite direction as fast as you can. Fly if you have to. Don't run right into it like an idiot."

She gathered up as much strength as she could, forcing her mouth to open. "Kasshi," she managed. Her voice was weak and wavery, even to her own ears. "Sekto."

"Yes, Taiho."

"I was..." She broke off, trying to keep her strength up. Her eyes started watering again under her lids. "...so scared."

"I know, Kyourin. I know."

Kyourin spent the next long while crying, held tightly on one said by Kasshi, and the other by Sekto, a ball of pain, heat, and exhaustion floating on a bed of reassuring words and gentle touches. They stayed exactly like this until she again passed out.

* * *

_By the way, the swearing shouldn't be taken as a direct translation of what they're actually saying. Think of it as the cultural equivalent.  
_


	5. Chapter Four

Kyourin had thought, by the dimness of the sky, that she had only been unconscious for a few hours. Turns out, it was closer to a week. That first day after she woke up, she still spent most of her time sleeping. She did manage to eat a little. Somehow. It seemed to take great effort to chew and swallow. The next day she was a little better. She successfully was able to move her arms around and, after a nap, told Sekto she wanted to try playing kokki. Sekto went to get the supplies with hardly a word. She had been strangely quiet since Kyourin had gotten sick.

She found, when she tried playing, that it was harder than usual. It did take much more effort than usual just to lift her arm and place the stones. But it also felt like she wasn't doing as well. She was having a little bit of trouble concentrating. Halfway through the first game, the strength in her arm failed, and her hand came crashing down on the board, scattering the stones. Sekto said that was okay, and if she was too tired, they could stop. But Kyourin insisted she wanted to play another game so, without comment, Sekto picked up the stones so they could start again.

They were partway through the game when Kyourin suddenly said, "It's not fair."

"You and fairness," Sekto said with a sigh. "What's not fair?"

"Why do Kirin have to get blood sickness? It's not fair."

Sekto let out another sigh. "I know it isn't. But it's how Tentei made you."

"Well, Tentei is mean."

"Kyourin," said Sekto. Her tone of voice was odd, and Kyourin couldn't tell what sort of emotion would be behind it.

"No, really. Think about it. If a king loses the Way, or if there is no king, the people suffer. The fates of all people are tied to the choices of twelve. How is that fair? And us Kirin. Only we can chose the king. But when the king loses the Way, it's us that get sick and die. And even the sight of blood makes us helpless. How is any of that fair? Tentei is mean."

There was silence for a while. Sekto and Kyourin both placed a stone. "Those are quite the thoughts for an eight year old."

"I'm a Kirin. We're smart."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Sekto let a few moves pass in silence, and Kyourin followed her lead. She didn't really have much else to say about that anyway. "Kirin are innocent."

"What?"

"Did you know in all kingdoms, it is literally impossible to charge a Kirin with a crime? This is not out of reverence. It's the simple fact that Kirin are incapable of committing a crime."

"I could if I wanted to."

"A nonviolent one, perhaps. But you would never want to," Sekto insisted.

"I suppose not," admitted Kyourin, a little reluctantly.

"And blood sickness is an expression of this innocence and purity, a very powerful one. Imagine if a Kirin weren't innocent. They wouldn't be able to properly represent the will of the people, and wouldn't be able to advise the king on how to keep the Way."

"I guess not. But why the sickness? Couldn't we just hate it? Instead it's scary. There's no reason for that, right?"

"Kirin are very powerful, what with their shirei and all. You could probably defeat a small army all on your own once you come into your full capability. If Kirin weren't afraid of violence, they could use this power to do pretty much anything."

"But we wouldn't, because we're innocent."

For a short moment, Sekto sat there blinking. "Well, I don't pretend to understand it. But think of the things Tentei has given us. He put an end to war."

"Only between kingdoms. Inside isn't punished."

"Well, yes. But if all the bad things in this world come from Tentei, so do all the good. You wouldn't be able to play around the way you do, if not for Tentei. You wouldn't be able to talk to people, you wouldn't have us and Enrin, or even Kasshi." At those words, Kasshi gave her a gentle hug. "If not for Tentei, we wouldn't be here playing this game right now. We wouldn't even exist. All things in this world exist in balance. To keep the good, you have to take the bad."

"I guess," Kyourin grumbled. "It's still not fair."

"Life never is."

"Are you sure that's something you want to be teaching a Kirin?"

Sekto let out a short laugh. "No, I guess not. Life may not be fair, but we can never give up hope that one day, with much trial and effort, it will be. That's the duty of a Kirin, to guide your king in creating such a kingdom."

"Okay, I get it."

"Good. Now, I pass." Kyourin passed too, even though she already knew she had lost. The points being counted was just to tell her how much she had lost by. They played a few more games, but eventually Kyourin got so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. It was getting pretty late in the evening, and she was still weak from blood sickness. Sekto managed to get her to eat something before she passed out. Again, she slept.

When she woke up the next morning, she had recovered even further. She had found herself able to stand on her own. For breakfast she walked all the way to the pagoda they usually ate in, though she had to lean on Kasshi a good portion of the way. Enrin was surprised to see her. She talked more than usual, inquiring how Kyourin was feeling, clearly worried for her, in her reserved sort of way. Kyourin was pretty sure Enrin had never had blood sickness before, but still, it was always Kirin who sympathized most with Kirin (save for a Kirin's own nyokai). They were a family, after all. In a manner of speaking.

A few days later, halfway through the people of En's stay in the meadow, Kyourin was mostly recovered. It took another week for Kyourin to convince the nyosen to let her back out of the inner palace. She wanted to at least say goodbye to In'ou before they all left, and maybe play shukukon again, now that she was recovered. This time, though, the nyosen insisted on giving her an escort; the group assigned to go with her included Sekto and Kashou. She wondered if it were to keep stupid people away from her, or to keep her from doing something stupid herself. It didn't really matter either way, she decided.

So, one morning, she again left the inner palace with Enrin and the nyosen. This time, after she had split off and on her way to In'ou's camp, people bowed down to the ground to her. That annoyed Kyourin a little bit. She wasn't their Taiho. Eventually, still walking a little slower than usual, she made it to In'ou and Rou's camp. As soon as she showed up, Rou paled a little and prostrated himself. In'ou just looked up from her book and smiled a little bit. "Aku."

"Hey, In'ou." While her nyosen made a wider circle around the camp, Kyourin moved to take a seat by In'ou. "Sit up, Rou. I'm not your Taiho."

In'ou, ignoring her husband, said, "I didn't expect to see you again. You were gone a whole two weeks."

"I was recovering from blood sickness."

"Blood sickness?" So Kyourin explained what had happened—the fight she had run into, how she had reacted to seeing the blood, how she had reacted to being touched by that man's bloody hands, how she had spent days in pain and fire. "Wow," In'ou eventually said as she wound down. "I didn't know Kirin were that adverse to blood."

By this time, Rou had managed to sit back up, but he wasn't making eye contact. Kyourin decided to follow In'ou's lead and ignore him too. "It's not pleasant."

"I should say not. Would you like some tea?"

"You really don't have to," said Kyourin, feeling suddenly embarrassed again.

"No, it's alright. Having tea with a Kirin has been the highlight of this trip. Be right back."

The entire time In'ou was gone, Rou didn't say a word, and Kyourin was too unsettled by the way he was not looking at her to say anything herself. Thankfully, In'ou returned before too long. They had their usual tea and conversation, about whatever. Eventually, when he realized nothing had changed, Rou joined in. It was nice. Kyourin liked talking to normal people, people who weren't there to serve her. It was different, and interesting. Besides, there were things to talk about other than her education, and being a Kirin, which always made things interesting.

When their tea was done, and Kyourin was about to run off to find the children, In'ou asked, "I never did ask: which Kirin are you? I don't remember which kingdoms are without one at the moment."

"Kyourin," she said immediately.

"Ah," said In'ou with a nod. "I remember now. It's a shame what happened." That it was. There had been a rebellion; a large group of civilians had stormed Maplefrost Palace, and had slaughtered the king, his family, a host of officials, and even Kyouki. "How do you write 'Aku'?"

Kyourin blinked for a moment, but took In'ou's hand and drew the characters on her palm while slowly saying the name aloud.

"Pretty," said In'ou with a nod. "And fitting. You should keep it."

Kyourin blinked some more. "Keep it?"

"Yeah. Keep it. I always thought it was sad that Kirin don't get real names. Even animals have names. I figure as long as you're with the common people, and outside of official functions, you can have a real name. What do you say, Aku?"

"In'ou," said Rou, "she can't—"

"Yes! Thank you!" Without even being able to see it, she knew her smile was wide and ridiculous-looking.

In'ou laughed. "You don't need to thank me for a name you gave yourself."

"Still, thank you."

For the rest of the shouzan, Kyourin fell into a sort of routine. She was Kyourin in the inner palace, getting ready for the day, eating breakfast. As soon as she reached the meadow, she was Aku. She had tea and talked with In'ou and Rou, along with a few of his soldier friends. They had been here long enough that they didn't smell like blood anymore. They were all interesting enough. She made a couple more adult friends around the camp over the days, though none as good as In'ou. Every day in the afternoon she played shukukon with the kids. She was getting pretty good at it.

She found something else entertaining to do as well. A small group of people had brought instruments with them, apparently to give them something to do to wile away the time. They would spend a few hours a day playing folk music from En, which had a circling, bouncy quality. In a cleared out area in front of them, groups of people would dance, circling and bouncing to match the music. It was pretty simple; Aku figured out the steps just watching for a few minutes. After she figured it out, she jumped right into the crowd to join them. She found a few minutes to an hour to do this every day.

Near the end of the group's time in the meadow, Aku had dragged Enrin over to that end of the camp. At the Taiho's appearance, everyone playing instruments and dancing stopped immediately and prostrated themselves. Aku asked Enrin to tell them to go back to what they had been doing before, and they slowly did. As soon as the song was started up again, Aku dragged Enrin into the crowd to dance with her. They quickly discovered Enrin wasn't very good at it, and didn't enjoy it besides. Oh well. She seemed to make her people uncomfortable too, so before long she left Aku to it.

When the day was over, she would return to the inner palace, and to being Kyourin. But usually by then she was dead tired, and would go straight to her pagoda. Some nights she managed to get a game of kokki with Sekto in before going to sleep in the jumble of her shirei, but just as often she was too tired. And the cycle would restart.

Shortly it became time for the people to leave again. Once again, Enrin had not chosen a king. There was a disappointed and disheartened air in the camp, that En would go even longer without a ruler blessed with the Mandate, but there was nothing to be done about it. Aku went around the camp, saying goodbye to all the friends she had made. When saying goodbye to In'ou, she almost cried, but she managed to contain herself. Finally, the camp completely disassembled, and the people started on their way into Koukai. Even after they had left, Aku would sometimes drop in to say hi. She spent much of her time in Koukai anyway, so it was easy enough to arrange. She got several compliments on her appearance shifted, which she awkwardly tried to brush off.

Before long, she was told by the nyosen to not visit the departing group anymore, nor to go into that region of Koukai. Eventually the new batch would come in, this time arriving from both En and Kyou. The cycle would start all over, with a new collection of people on their shouzan four times a year.

Things would continue this way for some years.


	6. Chapter Five

_Oh, btdubs, F/F. I probably should have mentioned that xD_

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Kyourin's request to be heard. It had only been a day, and here she was waiting at the pagoda. She stared at the surface of the table, trying to think, trying to formulate her questions. Her problem was rather strange, and a little embarrassing. She wasn't sure how to go about asking after it, nor how the Genkun would respond to it. So she sat, deep in thought.

Kyourin was now fifteen. As the nyosen had anticipated, she had grown to be tall and thin. Her face had, against all odds, softened with age, though her eyes were still narrow, giving her neutral facial expression, which she wore now, the appearance of a frown. Her straight hair had reached her elbows, and everyone was pretty sure it had stopped growing. When she moved, it was still with the light-footed energy and grace she had had as a child. She was vaguely aware that she was popular with nyosen and her people, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly why. Maybe it was the happiness she always shed all over the place.

She had been waiting a few minutes when finally she heard footsteps. Immediately she sprung to her feet. Entering the room was Gyokuyou—tell, elegant, with the intricately wrapped hair the nyosen imitated. Kyourin bowed her head slightly, and said, "Good evening, Lady Gyokuyou."

Gyokuyou gave her thin smile, which always gave Kyourin a strange impression of slyness. "Hello, Kyourin." Gyokuyou took a seat at the table, Kyourin only sitting when she was down. "I understand you wanted to talk with me about something."

"Yes. It's, um..." Kyourin broke off, severing eye contact. "Actually, it's kind of embarrassing."

In her peripheral vision, she saw Gyokuyou's smile grow wider. "This must be great indeed to embarrass you. Go on."

"Well, see, um..." Kyourin bit her lip. "I've been having... I don't know. Thoughts? Feelings? I don't know what to think of them."

To Kyourin's surprise, Gyokuyou gave a solemn nod, as though she understood exactly what Kyourin was talking about after so little information. "I was wondering when this would come up. Or if it would at all."

"What would come up?"

"You've probably heard many times that red Kirin are unusual for their kind."

"Annoyingly many times."

Gyokuyou let out a light laugh; she somehow made that look graceful. "Yes, I'm sure. And whenever you asked about it, what did my nyosen say?"

"That I would understand when I'm older," Kyourin grumbled. She expected, to her disappointment, that that was exactly the response she was about to get.

"Now you're older." At the Genkun's words, Kyourin looked back up, eyes wide. Gyokuyou smiled back at her. "Look at that excited expression. Yes, you are old enough to understand, I think. I suppose the short explanation is that, on the average, dark-colored Kirin are more human than their light-colored brethren."

"More human?" repeated Kyourin with a frown.

"Yes," said Gyokuyou with a slight nod. "Red Kirin especially. You may have noticed that, compared to the golden Kirin you have met, you are more emotional."

"I have noticed that," Kyourin admitted. "Enrin isn't the best measure, though."

"Yes, she is rather flat, even for a Kirin. That is one way in which you are more human. But the reason that brought you to me is a more infamous trait of some red Kirin."

"Yes?" She kind of wished Gyokuyou would just get to the point.

"Red Kirin are much more susceptible to certain human passions than the average Kirin."

Kyourin thought a moment. "You mean sex?"

"I was thinking romance, but yes."

"Huh." Kyourin knew a little bit about sex. As far as everyone understood, it was a bodily function that seemed to be entirely useless, other than the fact that it made people feel good. Not all humans actually had sex, but many did. It was popular enough brothels existed. There were a few taboos on sex that she didn't really understand, but she didn't really understand humans sometimes. Romance she knew to be a particular type and process of love. She still didn't quite understand how there could be different types of love, but she knew about it at an academic level.

"So what brings you to me about this?"

"I've just been having thoughts about someone."

Gyokuyou's eyes pierced her. "A nyosen?"

Again, Kyourin severed eye contact. "Yes."

"Do I need to remove her from you?"

"No, I can handle myself." Her life on Houzan would seem much dimmer without Sekto around.

"Good. Do you have any questions for me?"

Kyourin thought a moment. "A couple, I think. So, Kirin can have sexual or romantic relationships? Does that happen often?"

"Yes, you can," Gyokuyou said with a slight nod. "It's pretty rare though, even among red Kirin. This is not because the Kirin don't want it, but because of how people see Kirin. Many people consider it sacrilege to have such a relationship with a Kirin."

"Even if it's what the Kirin wants?"

"Yes."

"But that doesn't make sense. Kirin are an expression of the Will of Tentei. How can what a Kirin wants be sacrilege?"

Gyokuyou almost made a sigh; almost, not quite. "Do not think yourself impervious to sacrilege. Even Kirin can lose the Way. _Extremely _rarely, but it does happen. But the problem is not in fact, but in the perceptions of men. Humans tend to think of Kirin as perfect innocents, perfectly pure. Many people see sex as impure, and requiring and causing a loss of innocence. They think Kirin are not capable of such an act on their own, and must be somehow coerced."

"I see." Kyourin hesitated for another moment, wondering if this was an appropriate question. She eventually decided to go with it. "How would I go about forming such a relationship? If the other is open to it despite our respective statuses."

Gyokuyou almost frowned; almost, not quite. "Not with this nyosen of yours. It's absolutely forbidden." Her voice was exceptionally severe, even harsh.

"I know, I know. I didn't mean with her. I meant just in general."

"I wouldn't know," Gyokuyou said with a strangely elegant shrug. "I haven't had such a relationship myself for longer than I can remember."

"Oh." Kyourin met her shrug with one of her own. "I guess those are my questions."

"That's it?"

Kyourin frowned. "Yes, that's it. Why, should there be more?"

"I guess not. I suppose the other Kirin who have come to me about this just needed more explanation than this."

"This was enough. I can figure out the rest on my own."

"Not with the nyosen, I hope," Gyokuyou said with a repeat of her serious tone.

"No, not with the nyosen. There's this woman in the meadow I kind of like, so I was considering exploring a little, but I might not. There's really nowhere private to be, anyway."

Gyokuyou nodded. "You could always go into Koukai. You'll be able to protect her."

For a moment Kyourin just blinked in surprise. She definitely hadn't expected that. "I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. I'll consider it."

"Is she En or Kyou?"

"Kyou."

"Be careful," Gyokuyou warned.

Kyourin frowned a little. "Why?"

"Your relationship with your people is important. You wouldn't want to do anything to damage it. Your people seem to like you plenty already, and it would be a shame to ruin that."

"I understand."

* * *

The latest group of people on their shouzan had arrived a couple weeks ago. As always, the meadow was filled with the sights and sounds of so many people gathered, almost overwhelming in their breadth and variety. She knew objectively it really wasn't that many people, but it still seemed a lot to her. As they had done every year since they had raised the flags in Kyou, the nyosen had handed out flags to every individual camp, giving yellow to the people from En, and red to the ones from Kyou. It was an easy way for Enrin and Kyourin to immediately know which people were theirs. Because of this, the camp had always seemed more colorful to Kyourin than it had been that first time. They had now raised the flags in Ren, and she wasn't entirely sure how they were going to handle that.

Every shouzan was pretty much the same for her. She rebuffed every person who came before her seeking the throne. Sometimes she worried she was turning away the actual king, as she wasn't exactly sure what the revelation would feel like, but she defaulted to trusting her instincts. They were usually pretty good. She met a lot of new and interesting people. Every time she made friends; some of them she was still in contact with through letters, including the governor of Teki Province, who had come up for a shouzan a few years ago. They had recently been discussing plans for when Kyourin and her future king would eventually come to Renshou. She would have tea with people, play shukukon and other games, and of course dance. The word had spread that Aku enjoyed dancing, so as each shouzan went by more and more musicians showed up. She wasn't sure if this was because people thought if she liked music the next king must be a musician, of if they were simply trying to please her.

As had happened every shouzan, it only took a couple days for her to train her people on how to treat her. Every time, they started off prostrating themselves. Only after a couple days, the word would spread that she didn't really like that. She was used to the nyosen, and they didn't do that. By the end of each group's time there, she got everyone simply calling out "Taiho!" or "Aku!" whenever she walked by. Much better, in her opinion. She was, the nyosen and a few of her people had told her, very well-liked by her people already. Which could only be a good thing.

She was making her rounds again today, talking with people she had met, playing games, dancing. A few more people came to her, seeking the throne, but she rejected them all again. She always felt bad crushing people's hopes like that, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Some of them, she could tell, would even be good for Kyou. But they weren't the king. Eventually, she found herself before a particular tent. This tent. She had just talked about this with Gyokuyou. For a moment she deliberated, before deciding to go for it. Without announcing herself, she ducked inside.

"Aku," the woman inside said immediately. She was, like In'ou had done years ago and as so many had since, reading a book. This was Mei; coincidences of coincidences, she was named for the governor of Teki Province. It was written the same and everything. She was shorter than Aku, and curvier. Her face was round, and she had the soft skin of the wealthy. Her hair was a silky brown, and her eyes were a piercing green that gave Aku the impression that, like Gyokuyou, she saw everything. She was a functionary in Ten Province, the capital province that Kyourin was destined to administrate; she wasn't of especially high rank, but high enough she was a sennin. Though she only looked a couple years older than Aku, she knew Mei was actually around two hundred. Mei, as in governor Mei, had told her not to trust anyone from the government of Ten Province, but she thought this Mei was nice enough. She was originally from Teki anyway. "Good afternoon."

"Mei," Aku said with a smile and a nod. "I was wondering if you'd like to walk with me."

Mei met her smile. "Of course." She put her book aside, and followed Aku outside the tent. "So, where are we going? To Makin's camp?" Makin was the head of a group of musicians; she and Mei had met dancing there.

"I was thinking we would take a trip into Koukai, actually."

Mei stared at her. "Koukai?"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. See that path over there? Next to the trees?"

With a frown, Mei looked toward where she was pointing for a moment. "Yes?"

"I'll meet you there. Don't be scared when you see me."

"Scared?"

"See you in a minute." With no further explanation, Aku jogged off in the opposite direction. She glanced over her shoulder once on the way to see Mei, with a confused expression on her face, turn to start toward the path she had indicated. Good. Aku moved through the meadow, exchanging greetings with the people she passed. She turned down an offer for tea she would have taken if she hadn't already had an appointment. Soon she was leaving the camp, and then entering another path leading off. She waited until she turned a corner before stopping. "Nansou?"

"Taiho," came the rumbling voice.

"Is she almost there?"

"She'll be there by the time we are."

"Okay. Come out." Nansou leapt out of her shadow. Nansou was still one of her more powerful shirei, even after all these years. She had been very lucky to subdue him. He was very large, his shoulder matching her shoulder, and longer than a couple of her heights. He was basically a big feline, with red and black fur and jaws full of dangerous-looking teeth. Nansou was her favorite shirei—excluding Kasshi, of course—smart and capable. He was also handy to fly on when she didn't feel like shifting. She clambered onto his back. "Fly low. Stay out of sight."

"Yes, Taiho." With a suddenness that nearly took her breath away, Nansou leapt into the air. Kyourin never found flying on a shirei as enjoyable nor as comfortable as doing it herself, but this way it was easier to keep track of her clothes. Nansou flew them in a circle around the meadow, keeping low enough to not be seen over the tall rocks of the maze.

Before long, he was bringing them down to the ground where she could see Mei already waiting. Even bracing herself, Kyourin wasn't quite prepared for the solid impact of landing. She immediately hopped off the high shirei, and walked up to Mei. She noticed the woman's eyes were very wide, and her hand was covering her mouth, apparently having restrained a scream. "Surprised you, did we?"

It took Mei a while to remove her hand and speak. Her eyes never left Nansou. "I thought we were going for a walk."

"We have to fly to get where we're walking. Come on." She started around to Nansou's side, but Mei didn't move. "Come on. He only bites who I tell him to. It's perfectly safe." After a moment longer stuck in place, Mei nodded and stepped closer. Aku gave her a boost up onto the kneeling Nansou's back before jumping up herself. "You know the spot." Again, Nansou jumped up into the air. Mei let out a choked squeal as he took off, and clung tightly to Kyourin. Aku didn't really mind.

Before long, they were at Kyourin's favorite place in Koukai, conveniently close. She helped Mei down to the ground, then set a few of her shirei, including Nansou, into a patrol pattern around the clearing to ward off any youma. Which was mostly for the benefit of Mei's peace of mind. They were deep in one of the forested areas, but in a spot that was too rocky to support anything but grass and flowers. This was spread in a fan around a small waterfall falling into a pool, leading into a narrow stream.

For a while, the two of them wandered around the clearing, watching the waterfall, taking in the flowers, hopping from rock to rock. (Aku did most of the hopping.) All awhile they talked about all manner of things. One of the topics was the state of affairs in Renshou. Mei didn't seem to know very much, and professed to have not even met the Chousai, so Kyourin decided anew to trust her. Aku also managed to put in a fair amount of interviewing. It was through this that Aku discovered Mei was indeed single—that was the word she used. That was convenient. In the end, they ended up sitting before the pool, and sat there talking for a while. Out of curiosity, Kyourin once asked if she had known the previous Kyou Taiho, but she said that, though they'd been in the palace at the same time for some years, they'd never met. Nor had she met the one before that. Nor before that. As most people, Mei seemed uncomfortable with the topic. Aku had learned many people, the nyosen usually excluded, thought it morbid to talk about a previous Taiho with the replacement.

After a few minutes, Aku slid around, moving so they were sitting face to face with their knees touching. She looked into Mei's eyes, and found herself at a sudden loss for words. "Hi."

Mei raised an eyebrow at her and smiled a little. "Hey."

"I was thinking," Aku started. "I, um, want to try something."

"Yes?" Mei's facial expression hadn't changed a bit, still confused and slightly amused.

"I was thinking, um... That we would, uh..." She took in a long breath, and sighed. Having properly collected herself, she moved on. "I want to kiss you."

Mei jerked back as though struck. Now her expression shifted to one of absolute shock. "What?"

"You heard me."

Now it was Mei who looked uncomfortable. That suddenly, somehow, made the whole thing easier for Aku. She continued leaning away, and seemed to be refusing to make eye contact. Aku also noticed she was blushing. "Taiho, we can't."

"Yes, we can. I asked Gyokuyou and everything."

Somehow Mei looked even more confused. "The Genkun said...?"

"Yes. She said it's something we red Kirin do sometimes. I like you, so I thought I would try it."

"I'm flattered, Taiho, but we really can't."

"Why not?"

"You're the Taiho!" said Mei, as though trying to with sheer force of the word get this idea out of Kyourin's head.

Aku shrugged. "So?"

"So? I can't!"

"Don't you like me?"

For a moment Mei's mouth opened and closed in silence. "I mean, yes, but..."

"Just as the Kyou Taiho."

"Well, no, but..."

Aku internalized a sigh. "Forget I'm the Taiho for a moment. Not Kyourin. Just Aku."

There was a short silence as Mei simply stared at her. "I'm not sure I can do that."

"Just think about it. If I were just Aku, without all this Kyourin business, would you want to?"

Again, Mei hesitated. "Well, I'm usually just interested in men. And you're a lot younger than I am. A lot."

"Oh, well, nevermind then," Aku said with a shrug. "Forget about it." She hoped she didn't sound too disappointed. And at the same time, she hoped she did sound disappointed; that might sway Mei a little.

"No, it's, um..." Mei let out a long sigh, then took a deep breath. "I can try."

"Okay," Aku said, trying to keep her voice level. She didn't want to sound too annoying in her victory. She would feel guilty for manipulating Mei if she couldn't instinctively tell Mei wanted this as much as she did. And she always trusted her instincts. "How do we do this?"

"Oh, well, um." Mei kept looking back at her and then looking away, her eyes bouncing back and forth and back and forth. "It's pretty simple, really."

"I figured it would be."

"I'll just, um." Mei started reaching a hand toward Aku, but then she stopped. "You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

"No. Maybe Sekto," she added after a second of thought. "She's a nyosen," she again added after seeing Mei's look of worry. "She won't tell anyone."

"Okay, um. Just don't tell anyone I'm doing this. Sekto, fine, but no one else."

"Yes, I will tell no one else."

"You promise?"

This was starting to get a little annoying. "I promise."

Mei nodded to herself. Her hand came up, slowly, until it was cupping Aku's cheek. This was nothing new to Kyourin; she was used to Kasshi touching her like that all the time. It felt different though. She wouldn't be able to explain how. Then, slowly, Mei's face closed with Aku's. Aku watched with interest as Mei got closer. When they got close, Mei's eyes closed. Aku wondered for a moment if there was some reason Mei didn't want to look at her. Had she done something wrong? While she was thinking about that, Mei's lips touched hers.

It wasn't really anything all that special. It wasn't like trumpets were going off in her head. It _was_ interesting, though. Mei's lips were soft, smooth, and warm, and she smelled pretty good too. The simple sensation felt better than it really should; she had had soft and smooth things against her lips before, but this was different somehow. It wasn't the best experience of her life. But it certainly was interesting.

Shortly after it began, Mei pulled away. There was a long moment of silence, Mei staring at the ground, and Aku simply watching her. Eventually Mei said, "Well?"

"I liked it," Aku said honestly. "It was interesting."

Mei let out a short laugh. "Interesting."

"Yes, interesting." Aku let a short moment pass. "Can I?"

Mei laughed again, longer this time. "I'm sorry, just the idea of the Taiho asking my permission for anything is laughable." She continued laughing for a little bit.

"I don't want to do it if you don't want me to," Aku said, a little annoyed and sounding it.

"No, it's fine, go ahead."

Mei still sounded a little reluctant, but Aku decided to do it anyway. More quickly than Mei had done it, she leaned forward to kiss her. Again, it was interesting. Not the best thing ever, but interesting. She liked it. They went back and forth like that a few times. Then the kisses started lasting longer. While Mei was doing that, she started opening her mouth little by little. Aku followed her lead. She started feeling warm, warmer than she should be. She usually didn't feel warm, as mild as the weather always was, but she did now.

Then, with a suddenness she wasn't expecting, Mei's tongue was in her mouth. She jerked in surprise a little, but she didn't pull away. This was interesting too. Mei tasted pretty good; she could taste the spices Mei had had at lunch. Thankfully, she hadn't been eating meat. This felt pretty good, too. She liked this. Now she was starting to feel hot, and she felt like a pressure was slowly building in her. This was interesting. Mei kept on going, harder and faster, Aku meeting her every step of the way. Even though she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. This was starting to be too much for her, she suspected.

Now Mei was leaning forward into her, pushing her backward a little. Aku understood, and let Mei push her back. That didn't feel quite right. Something was wrong here. Oh well. She decided to ignore it. Now Mei was on top of her, trying to slip a hand into her fancy shouzan clothes. That pressure in Aku was getting so strong she suspected she was about to explode. She wanted this to keep going, to wherever this was leading, so bad she couldn't think straight anymore. She set herself up to give into whatever Mei was going to do entirely.

Everything she was feeling and thinking hit a brick wall.

She blinked in confusion a moment. Everything had suddenly stopped. Mei wasn't kissing or touching her anymore, no longer on top of her. A glance to the side revealed Mei was there, prostrating herself on the grass. "My deepest apologies, Taiho!" she was saying. "You just tasted so good and I forgot myself. Forgive me!" She repeated that last phrase several times.

"It's fine," Aku said, a little confused. "What happened? You stopped."

When Mei spoke, she sounded a little baffled. "You yelled at me to stop and shoved me off."

"Oh." That's funny. She didn't remember doing that. Now that she thought about it, she kind of did. Something had come over her and she had done exactly that. She had actually yelled it into Mei's mouth, as it had been attached to hers at the time. "Huh." She noticed then that Mei was shaking. It took her a moment to realize that she was shaking in fear of what Kyourin was going to do to her. It's amazing how people can forget that a Kirin would never intentionally hurt someone if they didn't have to. "It's okay, I forgive you. You can sit up." Aku sat up herself.

"Thank you, Taiho." She sounded incredibly relieved.

She took a few moments just to breathe. That had been strange, how everything had suddenly ended. "Well," Aku said just to fill the awkward silence. "Thanks for that. It was interesting."

Mei let out an awkward laugh. "Interesting."

"Yes, interesting. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"You don't have to apologize, Taiho. I shouldn't have been doing that."

"No, it's okay. I literally asked for it."

"You didn't ask for that," Mei insisted.

Aku thought for a second and shrugged. "I guess I didn't. I don't think I was ready for it."

"I apologize."

"I said it's fine." There was silence for a while. Aku wondered just what exactly that brick wall she had hit was. It was strange. She couldn't get her head around it. One moment she was having fun, if a little scared and uncomfortable, and the next it was over. Strange. "Well. I think we should go back. The nyosen will be expecting me for dinner soon."

"That's probably best, yes."

"Are you ready for another ride on Nansou?"

Mei noticeably shuddered. Aku couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

_Yes, I'm coming up with province names now. As far as I know, they haven't been named for Kyou in the source.  
_

Teki Province: 適州

Ten Province: 躔州

Mei: 盟


	7. Chapter Six

Aku sat crouched on top of the gate to the meadow, watching the latest people on their shouzan leave.

This was taking too long. She couldn't just sit here forever, meeting with the people who came up four times a year, going through them, finding nothing. If she were unlucky, she could end up like Enrin, who was twenty two now, and had yet to choose a king. Aku didn't want that. Already, at fifteen, she felt she had waited too long.

She couldn't even imagine what it was like in Kyou. The longer a kingdom went without a ruler, things just got worse and worse. Fields would lay fallow, either unable to support crops or simply abandoned by fleeing farmers. Natural disasters would plague the land—floods, storms, earthquakes, and so on. Without a strong ruler with the Mandate, the powerful would fight among themselves. Youma would roam the land, killing people indiscriminately. It would be a disaster, destroying the livelihoods and lives of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands. As the years passed by, a larger and larger portion of her people coming on their shouzan were refugees actually living in the neighboring kingdoms of Ryuu and Han. The situation in Kyou was simply that bad.

This was taking too long. Kyou needed a king. Now.

Well, that's all there was to it. It was amazing how easy it was for her to make her decision. She had probably decided in her heart long ago.

"Kyourin!" came a call from below, inside the gate. Kashou. "What are you doing up there?"

"Looking around!" she shouted back. "Be right down!" Aku popped to standing, then came back down exactly the way she had gotten up. She ran to where the gate joined the rock, smoothly jumped to a narrow shelf in the wall a good distance down, then fell down to the ground. She had discovered long ago that she was just as light on her feet in human form as she was as a Kirin. Long practice running and jumping around and her weight, very slight for a human, made doing things like that pretty easy. She turned to Kashou. "Is Gyokuyou still around?"

Kashou blinked in surprise at her sudden question. "Yes, I believe so."

"May I speak with her? It's important."

It was obvious she was curious what was so important, but she didn't ask. "I'll arrange it." Kashou led her off toward the inner palace.

So, again, Aku found herself in that same pagoda she had met Gyokuyou in a week ago. But this time, she wasn't left alone with her thoughts, and hadn't even made it to a chair before the Genkun walked in. "Lady Gyokuyou," she said immediately, bowing her head a little.

"Kyourin," the Genkun said with a similar nod. Before speaking further, Gyokuyou walked over to the table to take a seat. Kyourin followed her lead. There was a short pause before Gyokuyou spoke; Kyourin waited. "Now, I wonder what you could have come to me about this time. I'm told it's important."

Kyourin decided not to beat around the bush. "I'm going to Han."

"Okay," she said immediately.

In mild surprise, Kyourin blinked to herself for a couple seconds. "Okay?" she repeated. "That's it?"

"That's it," the Genkun confirmed with a nod. "It's pretty common for Kirin around your age to get fed up with the whole shouzan process, worrying if their king will come at all, and wander out into the world. If you were going to Kyou I would have some concern, as it is very dangerous there, but if you're simply meeting refugees in Han, that's acceptable."

"Oh, well..." Kyourin paused. She had expected to have to do some convincing. She wasn't sure if being given permission so readily was convenient or unsettling. "That's settled then."

"It is," Gyokuyou agreed. "There is some procedure, though."

"What's that?"

"You have to ask Han-Ou for permission to search through his kingdom."

Kyourin frowned. "We do I need permission to visit my own people?" It only occurred to her after she spoke that she had just asked Gyokuyou for permission to do the same thing.

"It's just the way things are done."

"Oh, okay." Kyourin considered that a moment. "I'll need directions to Eishou Palace, then."

"I'll get a map to show to your mount," Gyokuyou said easily. "We have one prepared for each kingdom specifically for this purpose."

"That's convenient."

"It's a frequent occurrence."

"I guess," Kyourin said with a shrug. "Can I leave now?"

Now it was Gyokuyou blinking in surprise. "Immediately?"

"No point in delaying, right?"

A short moment passed in silence. "I guess not. I'll guide you to the maps. I'll also have some supplies fetched, and gather the nyosen closer to you for their goodbyes." Responding to her indirect command, the pair of nyosen just outside the room bowed, then hurried off to fulfill her wishes. Gyokuyou stood. "Come." Gyokuyou walked through the building to a different room, then grabbed a very large scroll from a shelf containing several of the same size. Kyourin didn't count, but she suspected there were twelve. She walked outside of the pagoda into the grass, then unrolled the scroll on the ground.

"Nansou, take a look." At her direction, Nansou popped out of her shadow, and bent to examine the map. It was a terrain map, showing the various physical characteristics of the kingdom of Han and some of Kyou and Sai—mountains and flat lands and forests and rivers and lakes all in differing shapes, along with the locations of cities and towns and villages. Very detailed. Nansou didn't take long looking at it before nodding, a strangely human gesture, and vanishing into her shadow again.

Gyokuyou rerolled the map, and returned it to its place. Then she led Kyourin out through a path in the rocky maze that was Houzan. She knew where they were going before they got there. They emerged from the maze in the clearing around the Shashinboku. Already gathered there were a few nyosen, including Kashou and Sekto. The nyosen served her one final meal on the rocks, fawning over her all the while, even Kashou. She supposed they were going to miss her. Afterward, they gave her some provisions—two changes of clothing, some food, some coins. They said brief goodbyes; she thought Sekto looked strangely sad.

And then, barely two hours after she had made her decision, she felt the jolt of Nansou leaving the ground, and she was on her way.

The trip through Koukai felt no different than any other time she had flown over it. There was one youma attack, but they got away without shedding any blood. Nansou wasn't as fast as she when she was flying on her own, but he was still fast. They took a rest near one of the gates for a while. Crossing the Kongou Mountains was a bit of an adventure, but not so different from the usual way of things.

Once over the mountains, she got her first look at Hakukai, the White Sea. Much as Koukai wasn't yellow, Hakukai wasn't really white. It was a deep blue, the sort of blue she had seen a few times in lakes in Koukai. But it was huge. The water stretched as far as she could see in all directions, flat in its blueness save for tiny variations in the way the light hit the water. She assumed this variation was from waves. The air was wet and salty with an unfamiliar twinge to it she couldn't put her finger on. This was definitely interesting.

It didn't stay interesting for very long. The sea was very very large, and it got boring after a while. To entertain herself, Aku kept a running conversation with her shirei, talking about what they were doing, their hopes for finding the king, and what kind of person they hoped the king would be. They had left pretty early, but by the time they were over land again, the sun was near setting. From Nansou's breathing, Aku could tell he was getting a little tired. Nansou had never flown this far at once before, so it wasn't that unexpected that he would wear himself out.

Aku told him to find a town. Nansou came to a heavy landing not far from one, just off the road. As soon as Aku was down, he disappeared into her shadow to rest. The forest was different than Koukai, calmer, quieter, less menacing. It seemed almost peaceful. This was either in Han or in Sai close to the border; she wasn't sure which. Actually, by those spires far to the west, barely visible despite their size, she suspected she was in Sai. She walked through the trees, making her steps light in unconscious reverence. Before long she was on the road. By the time she got there, she had forgotten which direction the town was in—she hadn't seen it very well from the air—but one of her shirei, a little exasperated, pointed her in the right direction. The sun was almost set by the time she got there.

The town was surrounded by a tall wall, made of flat brick. She couldn't see much of the town save for a narrow view down a street through the gate. The sun was setting. The guard at the gate started yelling at her to hurry. She supposed they closed the gate at night, and she might not be able to get in if she didn't get there soon. Well, it would be a simple matter for her to get in, but a normal human wouldn't be able to. Despite how the walls weren't really an obstacle for her, for appearance's sake, she sprinted flat out for the gate. Shortly after she entered, the heavy gate closed behind her. The guard gave her an odd look; apparently she had ran a little suspiciously fast. Even in human form, Kirin were very quick.

The town was nothing special. Really, it wasn't all that different from the palace. The buildings were of a similar design, though a little more worn. There were people inside, but not a whole lot of people. She saw more at the meadow all the time. As soon as she took her fill of her surroundings, she asked one of the guards where she could find lodging. He pointed her in the right direction.

The inn wasn't a spectacular place. It wasn't an expensive one, without the casual sort of luxury she was used to on Houzan, but it wasn't cheap either. The place was clean, if simple. The owner met her with a smile, and, after she proved she did indeed have money, he led her up to her room. Among other things, he said they served food to their guests, and she should go down to the dining room if she wanted to eat. She decided she would. She laid her things down in a corner in the simple bedroom, which was little more than a low bed, a desk, and a dresser. She kept the money with her though; she wasn't a complete idiot. Only mostly. It was good she brought it with her, because she completely forgot to lock the door.

Many things they made in the kitchen had meat in them, or as part of the process in creating broth. Aku didn't know why humans were so fascinated with meat. She had tried it once and had found it to be absolutely disgusting. She had even chosen the thing that smelled to her the least like blood: fish. Someone on their shouzan had brought a little dried fish. She hadn't been able to swallow it, and had spat it out and thrown up immediately after. After a little bit talking with the chef, they managed to decide on something fitting to her palate. He had acted as though she were very strange for not wanting meat, but he did it anyway. Soon she had her food in the dining room, a collection of chairs and tables under a low wooden ceiling. There weren't many people there. One table held a couple and a child. Another had a single traveler. No one gave her a second glance.

That's what had been striking her as odd. She had had a strange feeling ever since she had gotten to the town, and only now did she figure out why. People were treating her as though she were an ordinary person. They were perfectly polite, but they didn't act like she was anything special. They didn't know she was a Kirin. She was completely anonymous. It was strange. Not bad, but strange.

Trying to sleep in this foreign place was a little difficult. The room felt oddly stuffy. She guessed, since the pagodas at the palace hardly had external walls, she was more used to there being a constant breeze when she slept. And the bed was harder than she was used to. But she managed it without calling Kasshi or any of her shirei.

In the morning, she paid the owner on the way out the door. He thanked her for staying with them and being so agreeable with a gentle smile. Apparently she had made an impression on the staff even after only one night. She thanked him back for having her, and then made her way out of the town. When she was far enough away, she ducked off the path and walked a distance further before calling Nansou, and she was in the air again.

Another day and night passed much the same way before reaching the capital. The mountain that bore Eishou Palace was a strange touch of home. The monolith of a mountain stretched far into the sky, piercing Unkai. Most of the mountains back home were such, so it didn't surprise her as she knew it did people who had never seen one before. The mountain did seem to hang in the distance longer than it should before rapidly approaching. Nansou flew up onto a shelf sticking out of the rock high up on the mountain. It looked a little precarious to Aku, but she was a frequent resident of precarious places, so it didn't bother her.

Nansou hit the stone with a clattering of claws. Against the wall on their shelf, which was larger than it had looked against the size of the mountain, was a huge double door swung wide open, and an increasing number of soldiers wearing leather armor and bright decorations in all colors. The town she had stayed in in Han, she had noticed, was extremely colorful, the entire spread of the rainbow. Apparently that colorfulness spread to the soldiers. They seemed about to attack Nansou, but hesitated. Perhaps because Nansou had yet to make any aggressive moves, or possibly because they noticed Kyourin on his back.

She hopped off and turned to take in the guards. They were all giving her very strange looks. "Nansou," she said, loud enough for them to hear her, "take a rest." Nansou disappeared into her shadow with a flourish.

A couple of the soldiers instantly fell to the ground, prostrating themselves. One of them, who she had seen when he had been standing had more decorations than the others—she supposed this meant he was their leader—gave a shout of "Taiho!" At the word, the rest of them bent to the ground as well.

"You may stand," Kyourin said, almost immediately. "Tell the King and Han Taiho that Kyourin requests an audience." A couple of the guards sprinted ahead to make the arrangements.

Eishou Palace, she couldn't help noticing while being led through it, was positively lavish. All materials were of the highest quality, and there was art everywhere, a rainbow of colors in even greater variety than the town she had visited. It made Aku slightly uncomfortable, but not so much that it was distracting. She was led up some stairs, through the open air, where she could see the many buildings of the palace spread out before her, and through several of the enormous buildings before they reached their destination. Her escorts stood at either side of the shining wooden double doors, and gestured for her to enter. She opened the door and slipped inside.

Inside was an office. It was of a more subtle beauty than the rest of the palace, more function than art. Behind a wide desk, in front of a wall holding many sconces filled with documents, sat a somewhat severe-looking man, with white hair and a long nose. She realized this was the King. She was a little surprised; she had expected to be received in the proper manner in a hall. That was the proper way of things. She suspected since she wasn't _technically_ a taiho yet that they weren't observing such formalities. Walking toward her, she knew without even looking from the golden aura flooding that side of her vision, was a Kirin. Before she could even focus on him, Hanki had her in a tight hug.

Many Kirin were, as Sekto had called it, "touchy-feely". Aku was much the same way, when she got in her moods. So it didn't at all surprise her that a complete stranger was embracing her, or, that when they separated with his hand lingering on her shoulder, Hanki immediately reached out to stroke her mane. "Such a beautiful mane. I've never seen a red Kirin before." Hanki was about her height, narrow-shouldered, and was wearing the most beatific smile she had ever seen on a living being.

Kyourin reached out to run a hand through his too. "Yours isn't so bad either." It was only polite, after all. And besides, Kirin manes were always beautiful, and the hairs were always smooth and soft.

"Is that really a Kirin?" asked the King, with some doubt on his voice.

"I thank you for welcoming me to your home, Han-Ou," she said, bowing her head deeply, which was made a little difficult by the arm around her shoulders. The usual procedure for a human would be to prostrate herself, but Kirin only did that for one person each in the entire world. "I am Kyourin."

"Huh." The King raised an eyebrow. "Strange. Well, I have some work to do yet. You're dismissed, Hanki. You two catch up."

"Thank you, my lord," Hanki said to his king, bowing his head. With nothing further, Hanki led her out of the office. They walked through the palace, eventually coming to a small gazebo sitting in a patch of grass. Aku took a moment to look out over Unkai, which looked little different than Hakukai. She knew she would be able to see through it to the ground below if her angle weren't so shallow. Servants brought them tea.

And the two Kirin talked, about all kinds of things. The state of things on Houzan, Han, and Kyou, what Hanki did with his time, what he thought of his King. He almost asked Kyourin what she thought of her king before stopping himself, realizing that, "Ha ha, silly me," she didn't have one. When Kyourin talked about her journey so far, Hanki found her time in the towns absolutely fascinating, and listened closely to every detail. Kyourin figured all Hanki knew in life for the last couple centuries was Eishou, and it was much harder for Kirin with golden manes to remain inconspicuous besides.

She found she greatly enjoyed meeting another of her kind. She had only met a couple, and every time she felt a connection to them that she couldn't explain. It was like, she guessed, they were family. Which they sort of were. Hanki seemed to be the eternally cheerful type, always smiling and laughing, more like herself than Enrin. Aku liked him.

In the evening, after talking with her fellow Kirin for hours, Kyourin ate with Hanki and the King. It was then that Kyourin brought up her request, that she be allowed to search for her king among the refugees along the border with Kyou. Han-Ou immediately granted her request, and wished her luck. Well, that was simple enough. Talking with him confirmed the impression she had gotten from Hanki's stories about him: he wasn't a very sensitive person. But that was okay.

Kyourin was given a room to stay in. Well, several rooms. She supposed, from the opulence, that they were intended for visiting dignitaries. Everything was shining woods and metals and soft silk. The bed was the most comfortable she had ever been in. It took no effort at all to fall asleep.

The next morning, with absolutely no fanfare, she mounted Nansou and left for the northeastern border. The prospect excited her in a powerful way she hadn't expected.

* * *

Eishou: 永松

(As far as I know, the capitol palace in Han isn't named, so I just made one up. I do/did the same thing with Kyou's provinces.)


	8. Chapter Seven

She flew over gently rolling greenery, forest and cropland in alternation. Han really was beautiful, as had been Sai, but she couldn't tell if it was more or less beautiful than Koukai. It was simply different. Koukai was harsh, unforgiving, but yet there was a severe sort of beauty to it. Here was more pacified, more gentle, pleasing to the eye in its own way. She supposed it didn't really matter. It was what it was, and it was beautiful, so what was the difference?

There was one major difference: Nansou was the only youma she'd seen in a while.

She discussed with Nansou where should be their destination. Nansou described for her the layout of the area, and where the various towns and cities were. They brainstormed on what to expect at each one, based on the physical and cultural terrain. In the end, they came up with a flight path that would take them by most of the more inhabited areas. She would stop in each population center for a couple days, searching each for her king. It was a good plan, or at least one that would do for now. She might get lucky. Nansou changed the angle of their flight a few degrees to accommodate their decision.

They had left very early, and Nansou had gained some speed, so it was about only halfway through the day when they approached the first town, still a good ways from the border. Even from the air, and at quite a distance, Aku could pick out a collection of shapes that had to be the tents of refugees. Once again, Nansou landed some distance from the town and the road leading to it, and vanished into Aku's shadow the moment she hit the ground. Aku followed her shirei's directions back to the road and onward to the town.

This town, she could tell from a distance, was a little larger than the ones she had been to before. She got a good look at it; she was coming down at it from the top of a hill. It was as colorful as the other one in Han, but it was colorful in a different enough of a way that she could tell the difference. This one had more blues in it. Both inside and outside the gate there were bunches of cloth tents. For a moment she was worried for the people outside. She knew the walls partially existed to ward off youma, and there would be little protection out here. But then she remembered that Han was doing well, so there wouldn't be that many youma around. A kingdom at this sort of height was more like Houzan than like Koukai.

As she neared, she could hear the town. This one seemed to be more active than the other one, filled with discussion, laughter, and music. As the walls got closer and closer, she wondered where she should go first. She could explore the town. She could say hello to the refugees, search through them for her king. She could secure lodgings and then do either or both. In the end, she decided to go figure out where she was staying for the night first. She hoped it would be cheap; she didn't have a whole lot of money.

It turned out it wasn't very cheap. It was over twice as much as she had paid at the last inn, but the place looked of about the same or slightly lesser quality. She was about to ask after it when she suddenly understood. Supply and demand. They had a limited supply of rooms, and with refugees around seeking lodgings, it was bound to be more expensive. Grumbling internally, she decided to take the room anyway; she had been told it was the only inn in town. Of course, she could probably get the room for free if she just revealed she was a Kirin, but that felt cheap somehow.

Leaving most of her things in the room, she wandered back out. After a moment of thought, she decided to visit the refugee camp, and headed in that direction. She decided to head toward the half outside of the walls first; if she should take a while talking to them, it would be better to arrange it in a way she was less likely to be interrupted by the gate closing.

The refugee camp wasn't as depressing as she had expected it to be. They were destitute, and they were dirty. But somehow, their spirit seemed, while not perfectly clear of damage, intact. When she approached, she actually got shouted greetings from some of the people. It was almost like being back in the meadow. The set up was pretty similar. The tents and people were shabbier, but it was pretty familiar. Except these people, of course, didn't know she was their Taiho. She casually walked through the camp, taking in the faces colored with dirt. No one stuck out to her. She spent a while there before deciding the king wasn't there. This camp was pretty small, so it didn't take so long.

So she decided to move to the camp inside the walls. It didn't take long for her to reach the same conclusion. She was just about to leave, disappointed, when, to her baffled surprise, a group of people pulled out battered instruments and struck up a tune. Was that really something refugees would be doing, in the middle of their idle poverty? Strange. Some of them perked up in excitement at the sound, and many of them moved to a cleared area in the center. She quickly divined that that was exactly why it was cleared: for dancing. She distantly wondered if the people of Kyou had always been this taken with music and dancing, or if it was something she had inspired already.

For a while she stood watching. She knew the steps to this dance. She knew the steps to a lot of dances, actually, from both En and Kyou. It wouldn't be too inaccurate to call her an expert. Apparently she was standing too close to the epicenter of mirth, as a man grabbed her wrist and dragged her in. That surprised her a little. Her clothes marked her as wealthy, though not ostentatious, so it was strange of him to assume she would want to participate.

Oh well. With hardly a thought, she slipped into the folk dance. Like the dances she knew from En, Kyou dances involved a lot of circular motions, but Kyou had more direct, back and forth motions than the other. It was a contrast she rather liked. Time blurred as she spun and swayed, and everything turned into a smear of twisting color and laughter. So it came as a total surprise what happened next.

As Goushi had been walking back from business he had had in town, he later told her, he had noticed the dancing and was moving to join in. It was when he had seen the flash of familiar crimson hair that his heart had stopped. Goushi had gone on a shouzan two years ago, but it had taken him a few moments to convince himself he was really seeing who he thought he was seeing. First he had said it quietly, but then he had repeated it loud enough to cut over the music and laughter. "Taiho!"

When Aku heard the word, she immediately jolted to a stop. Well, that ruse was over quickly. She knew it was possible she would run into someone who would recognize her, but she hadn't expected it to happen so soon. She heard the confused muttering around her. Some of them involved the phrase "red hair". The rumor of her coloring had probably gotten around by now. It took a short while, but eventually people started lowering themselves to the ground. Soon the entire group had their heads to the dirt.

Aku restrained a sigh. "It's okay," she said, trying not to grumble. "You can stand."

Most of them didn't, though they did sit up. One of them did, and he came right to her. He was a large man, wide in the shoulders and thick in the chest, with brilliant green eyes. "I didn't expect to see you here, Aku," he said as he neared. "You gave me quite a shock there."

For a moment Aku stared at him with an idle frown, trying to place the face. "Gouki?" she eventually said with a grimace. That was wrong.

The man continued smiling anyway. "Close enough. Goushi."

"Sorry," Aku muttered. "I have a lot of names and faces floating around in my head."

"We talked once years ago. I'm flattered you even half-remembered. I'm sure it wasn't the same experience for you as it was for me." Goushi glanced at the people around them. "You heard the Taiho. Stand up."

For a while she talked with the refugees. They asked her what she was doing so far away from Houzan, and she explained that she was out searching for their king. She described her plan of tracing a route along the border, hoping to find somewhere along that path the person they were all waiting for. She admitted she didn't think her chances were that great, but she didn't have a whole lot of options, and the people seemed to sympathize with that. Any chance to speed the process was worth it.

Actually, she just noticed, she had immediately gone to Han instead of Ryuu, or even Kyou. She hadn't even considered going to either. It was believed that Kirin were drawn to the aura of their king, even subconsciously. Maybe her queen really was here. But that was too optimistic for her to really get attached to. She shouldn't get her hopes up.

Aku added some more names and faces to her repository of them; she hoped she would be able to remember them. They offered her things she couldn't accept—food, money, and various small gifts. They needed these things to survive, so she couldn't just take them. They talked for a while, then went back to dancing; the rumor that she loved dancing had also gotten around. Then after that they talked for a while longer. It was an interesting gathering, though it made Kyourin a little sad, to see her people displaced and so poor. She definitely needed to find her queen as soon as she could.

When night approached, Goushi suggested they pool their money to buy out the only restaurant in town for the night, for Aku and a group of her people to have dinner together. Aku immediately rejected the plan. They couldn't be spending their limited money like that. Goushi said it wasn't a problem, but Aku insisted, absolutely refusing to go along with the plan. At one point, Goushi asked why she didn't just say she was the Taiho, and get it all for free. Aku tried to explain that it wouldn't feel right, like she were stealing. In the end, Goushi managed to convince her to go with him alone, and she reluctantly went along with it. She still didn't think he should be spending his money like that. Again, she had to talk with the cooks about her food, before they decided on something she would be able to eat.

Mostly, she and Goushi talked about the state of Kyou. Goushi seemed strangely informed on the topic; he said he had been an educator, and he had only left Kyou recently, so he had known a fair amount of what had been going on. "Things would be bad all on their own, of course," he admitted, taking a swig of his drink. "But the Chousai just made it worse. I understand tightening his grip to try to keep things in line during the disaster. But I think he's tightening too far. It made the situation even harder to deal with."

"What do you mean?" She had heard a fair deal about the Chousai from Mei the governor, but she was still curious what Goushi knew.

"Increased taxes, when with the state of affairs people aren't able to pay. Crackdowns on minor crimes. Increased presence of soldiers. He says it's to ward off youma, but a fair number of them are posted at the border. It took some work to get around them and across."

Kyourin frowned. "He's keeping people from leaving the kingdom?"

"Trying to, anyway. The border is too long for him to guard the whole thing, when his soldiers are too spread thin from protecting against youma."

"How did you get in? There's only one path, so I would think it would be easy to block."

"One official path, yes," Goushi said with a wide smile. "There are ways."

Aku decided to let that pass. "Mei, the governor of Teki Province, says he may resist the Mandate."

Now it was Goushi frowning. "You mean he's not going to bow to our king?"

"That's her suspicion."

"No," Goushi said, shaking his head. "That's impossible. He has never claimed the throne. He's just holding it in faith for when the king comes."

Kyourin decided not to push the matter. Between Goushi and Mei, she was pretty sure she should trust Mei. Mei was much closer to the Chousai, after all. And it's not like Kyourin really understood how humans thought about this kind of thing anyway; the whole thing was foreign to her. The simple idea of someone wanting power over another was weird—which was a little funny, considering how much power she would wield, mostly indirectly, in the future. There were certain things about humans she was sure she would never be able to sympathize with. And she was supposedly one of the more human Kirin.

After eating, Goushi insisted on walking Aku to her room. His treatment of her struck her as a little weird. She didn't really know why. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to a man giving her this kind of doting attention. All the nyosen were, of course, women, and it was they she most interacted with. His behavior was kind of reminding him of Sekto, for some reason.

That night falling asleep was strangely difficult. She ended up calling out Kasshi to snuggle her to sleep. Kasshi and her shirei had been trying to wean her off of that kind of comfort, but sometimes she felt she still needed it. Kasshi did give her a short speech about needing to be able to stand on her own, and that she was an adult now, more or less, and how when there would be servants around in the future who might see she wouldn't be able to have Kasshi around then either, but eventually caved. After that, unsurprisingly, Aku managed to have her best sleep since leaving Houzan.

She got another surprise the next morning. After paying for the overpriced room, Aku started on her way out of the town. As she approached the Kyou refugee camp, she saw it was noticeably smaller than it had been the previous time. Added to that, there was a group of people standing around with packs. Were they moving elsewhere? When she walked up to one of them, following a wave of people dropping to the ground, to ask what was going on, she got an answer she certainly hadn't expected.

"Taiho, we're coming with you, of course."

Immediately she went to Goushi, who was similarly packed. She had gathered yesterday that he was their leader of some sort. She got the same report from his mouth. They had a long discussion about it. They couldn't follow her, abandoning part of their number. She would be flying anyway. She barely had enough money to cover her expenses for the flight; if she had to provision the much longer trip on the ground she wouldn't be able to support herself. Goushi was very adamant, that they wanted to be where she was, and if she was going to be all on her own in a land she had never been to before they would worry. It was no use trying to explain that Koukai, where she played around just for the fun of it, was more dangerous to begin with, and that she was fully capable of protecting herself. Her safety, of course, was not what they were worried about. Whatever that meant. It wouldn't be fitting to her status to camp outside, but they would give her every comfort they could. She gritted her teeth at that; those sort of details really didn't concern her overmuch. So why not come with them, then? It would make them happy.

Now it was Aku caving. If it's what they really wanted, what would make them happy, she didn't have the will to get in the way. She would still feel bad about depending on them, but the thought of that seemed to make them happy too. That she could kind of understand. It would be handy if she had more shirei people could ride, but she didn't have enough.

Just setting her foot on the road out made her feel much better. Kyou-Ou was out here, and it didn't matter how she got to her. Only that she did.

The first short while was a sort of chaos. It seemed everyone wanted to walk next to Aku, talk to her. It took a while for them to stabilize into the shape and ordering that they kept for the rest of the walk. She ended up in the middle of a family, a middle aged woman, her husband, and two sons. They got more and more familiar with her as they walked. After a short while she asked them the when, how, and why they had left Kyou.

"Well, originally we're from a little farm not too far from Renshou. Beautiful place. Or at least it used to be."

"On the leeward side of a range of hills, near a clear river, with forest all around."

"This was before everything went to the youma, of course. Now it's a wasteland."

"We managed to get out before it got too bad, though."

"I'm not sure how much you know of what happened in Renshou..."

"To be fair, we don't really know either."

"There were whisperings, of course, that people were planning something. No one thought it would be something that big. No one I knew, at least."

"Now, the king—I forget what we're supposed to call him now—wasn't especially popular. But the people didn't really hate him, either. I have no idea where that rebellion came from."

"There must have been people that disagreed with us, I guess."

"And many of them at that."

"Anyway, so the king fell, and the Chousai took over. We knew without a king blessed by Tentei that things would get bad."

"Just look at En."

"Right. So we tried to hold on as long as we could."

"It wasn't so bad at first. For quite a while nothing changed at all."

"There was that one earthquake we had not that long after. But it didn't really do much, just knocked some things over, and we put them right back."

"I kind of remembered that. I think something fell on my head."

"Well, you were pretty young then."

"It must have been a big something."

"Who's the stupid one? I never fell in a well."

"I only almost fell in. I caught myself."

"And it was me that dragged you back out, remember."

"Kids, be good. Anyway, so things were fine for a while."

"Taxes went up, to support the youma-fighting army, but it wasn't too hard to deal with. Then a few years after the king died, the field got flooded."

"That was really weird. It was a pretty small river, I never expected the thing to do that."

"Yeah, it was weird. We managed to recover from that well enough. It was that same year that one of our neighbors got killed by some youma."

"I'm the one who found them slaughtered. It wasn't a pretty sight."

"We got a small patrol of soldiers after that to keep an eye on the area. But places that got patrols like this had to support them."

"Which meant an extra set of taxes for us to pay."

"We were starting to have trouble making ends meet then."

"We actually saw youma a few times over that next year, but they never came close enough to be that bad of a threat."

"Well, there was that one that hauled off with our pig."

"I'm still not convinced that was a youma. I think it was those nasty Kiko."

"You've had it in for those poor people since they moved in."

"Of course I have. They took our pig."

"There's no proof they took our pig."

"I'm sure they did. If the youma took it why didn't it just take us too?"

"I don't know, let's just forget about that. We were starting to get pretty nervous by then, is the point."

"That's when the locusts came. Took out our whole crop."

"Well, there was no point staying then, was there? Until you, Taiho, came along and brought us a new king, things were just going to get worse."

"So we packed up our things and the kids and left."

"Without looking back."

"Without looking back. We took the road south, stopping in towns when we could."

"Under yaboku when we couldn't."

"Those weren't too easily findable though, so we tried not to depend on them."

"We met a few other refugees on the way. Before long we had a good-sized group going with us. That's how we met up with half the people here."

"It took a couple months to get to the border. It wasn't a very fun time."

"We lost a good chunk of us to youma and soldiers."

"Yeah, we were surprised by that too. It's like they didn't want us leaving."

"Pretty quickly we learned to avoid places where soldiers would be patrolling."

"That's how we got across the border, walking through the forest around the patrolled road."

"As soon as we got into Han, we went to a prefectural seat and registered. Pretty simple process, really."

"They said if we would consider permanent residence they would even give us land."

"But we don't want to live here. Kyou is our home. It'll be better one day, with the right people at the top."

"That's why we're so happy to see you working so hard to find the new king. One day, we'll be able to go home, and it'll all be thanks to you."

"And the king, of course."

"Right, of course."

As if Aku needed more reasons to feel guilty for taking so long, or pressured to find her queen more quickly. As they walked, Aku heard many similar stories, and by the end of the first day, Aku felt like she were going to explode from the tragedies and hopes of all these people. Before going to sleep in a tent and on a mat Goushi had given up for her, she walked out into the forest to hyperventilate for a little while, just to relieve some of the tension. It took even more effort than the previous night to convince Kasshi to sleep with her, but Aku's obvious distress won the argument.

This was going to be a difficult journey.

She was very fortunate it ended so quickly.

* * *

Goushi: 強矢

Kiko: 鬼虎


	9. Chapter Eight

_So not confident in this chapter. But that's really true of most of this story. I'm not really trying my hardest. Oh well._

* * *

Exactly what Kasshi had been worried would happen happened: in the morning, Aku was caught sleeping with Kasshi.

After Aku dispelled their fear that a youma was attacking her, the situation had been met with nothing but curiosity. It turned out people outside of Houzan knew nothing about nyokai. So she tried to explain—how a nyokai lives for her Kirin, how it was she who had cared for Aku in her infancy and well into childhood, how she was closer to Kasshi than she was to anyone else. Eventually she gave up trying to explain and summarized by saying Kasshi was her mother. That seemed to make sense to them. They asked Kasshi to stay out so they could talk with her too, which she very reluctantly did. Nyokai didn't make a habit of being very conversational with anyone but their Kirin, so she was mostly a silent presence.

Kasshi's presence brought forth other curiosities. Most everyone knew that Kirin commanded shirei—youma they had bound to their will that they could call from their shadow. Just most people had never seen one before. So with an internal sigh, Aku called out her more impressive shirei who actually agreed to participating in the spectacle. For things like this she asked rather than commanded, and the prouder the shirei the less likely they were to want to do this kind of thing, so she didn't end up with her best. Nansou, for example, didn't want anything to do with it. The people were still impressed anyway.

They weren't at all concerned about sleeping out in the open—this was much a different place than Kyou—so they took a pretty direct route, not even stopping in towns. A few days passed, filled with more and more horrifying stories about the state of things in Kyou—though, oddly, they seemed easier to bear as the miles went on—before they reached the prefectural seat. There were more refugees from Kyou here, Goushi explained, than most anywhere else in Han. It was a convenient coincidence they were so near to it—except not really, because it was second on her and Nansou's flight path. Goushi was confident that, should the king be anywhere in Han, this was the most likely place to find him. Aku wasn't as confident as he, but she figured her chances were at least slightly better here than in the less populated areas of the borderlands.

On the banks of the Suika, the city of Yuutei was a pretty impressive sight. The river, a pleasant blue color, ran right through the city. Yuutei was a large collection of buildings, overall larger than Eishou Palace. Building after building after building. Some of wood, some of stone, some low and flat, others towering three or four stories. The streets stitched curving paths through the city, giving the place a more organic feel. And of course, it was colorful, like light thrown by gemstones. For a moment Aku stopped just to take the place in. Thousands of people must live there. More.

Goushi suggested a plan. The Kyou camp was on the opposite side of the city. His collection of people would go around to join them, while Aku would go in to find an inn for the night. Aku considered protesting the arrangement, but decided they would just get into another argument he would end by saying it would make him happy. It was already plain he had quickly learned to abuse that phrase when trying to get her to do something. So she left her people and made for the city.

This was unlike anywhere she had been before. The buildings stretched above her head, leaving portions of the streets in shadow. And the streets were filled with people, people of all sorts. If she weren't actively moving between them she would surely run into someone there were so many. It was hard for her to believe, even after years of shouzan and the towns she had seen before, that so many people would live in one place. She had hardly gotten a glimpse of the capital of Han—at the moment she couldn't even remember what it was called—but she imagined it would be a similarly bustling place.

It took a while to find someone who would direct her to an inn. The man gave her an odd look when she described the kind of place she was looking for; she didn't have the appearance nor bearing of someone who would seek such low-class lodgings, but her supply of money was limited. He gave her two options. She picked one, and he summarily gave her directions. Almost before she got her thanks out, he was gone. Either he was busy, or just rude. Though she didn't think it likely that someone who was either of those would give her directions at all.

She nearly got lost finding the place. Actually, she did get lost finding the place, and had to rely on Nansou to get her there. She wasn't used to finding a single building amongst so many distractions. Her shirei were kind enough to give her a detour around a butcher along the way. Even so far away from it she could smell it on the wind. As she walked her steps seemed to get lighter, as though a pressure were slowly being lifted off her shoulders. She hadn't realized being with the refugees had made her so downcast. There was also a bubbling excitement rising, this sensation more foreign. It was almost as though she were looking forward to something that was very near fruition. Was she really that eager to be on a soft bed again? Sleeping on the ground hadn't been that bad. She tried to ignore it.

The inn wasn't nearly so bad a place as the man had made it sound. It was four stories, solidly built, painted in wildly bright reds and blacks. Rather like her, she thought with a smile. Stepping inside, she saw the place was clean, as though the owners took good care of it. There wasn't someone waiting for her at the door though. She waited for a moment before deciding to search for help. She moved to what the many tables and chairs indicated was a dining room of some sort. Due to the time of day the place was mostly empty, but there were a few people seated. She took a quick sweep of the room, looking for someone who could help her.

It hit her like she had run into a wall of rock at full speed. Which she had actually done before, so she knew what it felt like.

There was nothing particularly special about the person. She would be a little shorter than Aku standing at her full height. Her hair was a silky black, interspersed with grains of deep brown, running in a tight braid down her back. Her eyes were the deep blue of Unkai. She wore very simple clothes, a little threadbare, and they fit her pretty loosely, as though intended for someone larger than herself. Even through that, Aku got a pretty good impression of her form. It was clear she worked here, as she was currently bent over washing a table.

Aku's breath hitched. She was suddenly struck with the most intense feeling of happiness she had ever experienced. For a moment that's all there was—Aku, the woman, and pure elation. The blooming sensation working all through her veins made her dizzy. That wasn't all. A powerful heat worked through her. It was the opposite of blood sickness—where the other was painful, this was euphoric. The heat emanated and concentrated in a few particular places in her body. Her heart pounded in her throat. A host of thoughts paraded through her head, fueled by her imagination, each one only adding to the onslaught of sensation. Her dizziness worsened the longer she stood there. A great pressure started building in her, though this one, she knew, could not be released simply by hyperventilating. Her body twitched, trying to force her into action, to live out the fantasies that flooded her mind. She felt a visceral connection with this complete stranger, as though they were joined together at a level she could not put words to. This second group was similar to feelings she had had before, though multiplied a thousandfold. It was familiar enough that she could recognize what was going on.

She had never been more sexually attracted to anyone in her life.

She swallowed.

Trying to conceal her nervousness, she pulled a cheerful smile onto her face. It didn't take much effort; she felt so incredibly happy she couldn't stand it. As she walked forward, she did her best to force her limbs to move smoothly, move naturally. She tried to keep her breathing even. As she got closer and closer, her body screamed at her louder and louder, until she was worried she wouldn't be able to feel or hear a thing. Forcing calm into herself as hard as she could, she slid out a chair at the table the woman was cleaning, and sat down. "Hi." It surprised her how even her voice was. Good. Calm.

The woman looked up at her. Aku was instantly pulverized by those startlingly blue eyes. "Hi," the woman muttered, a little cautiously. Even just with that, Aku found her rough voice the most beautiful song she had ever heard.

With those eyes on her, she knew she wouldn't be able to lie. So she said exactly what was on her mind. "You're cute."

The woman rolled her eyes before returning to wiping. "You're gay."

Aku had heard the word used all of once. She was pretty sure it meant someone who was only sexually interested in the same sex. As far as she could tell from the feelings she had had in the past and present, it was probably accurate. "I suppose I am."

"You suppose."

"I haven't quite put it to the test just yet."

The woman rolled her eyes again. "And this is where you ask for volunteers."

"Actually, this is where I ask for your name."

Now she sighed. "I don't give my name out to every traveller what flirt with me." She picked up her rag and bucket of water and moved on to the next table.

Aku followed her, and sat at this next table too. "Of course not. Like everything precious, it would devalue it."

"That's gotta be the corniest line I ever heard."

Aku had gotten so distracted watching the woman's neck, and the muscles tensed within it, that she had almost missed what she had said. "It was my first one. Nice to know I struck gold on the first attempt."

Now the woman gave her a look. To Aku's imagination, it was a softer look than she had gotten before. Then her gaze traveled downward somewhat. Aku could tell she was taking in her clothes, but she liked to think it was for other reasons. It would just be perfect if the woman were as attracted to Aku as she was to the woman. "Expensive clothes."

"I suppose," she admitted.

"What you doing here?"

"I don't have a lot of money on me. I didn't buy these clothes, you see."

The woman, staring down at the table she was washing, frowned. "Servant?" she said after a moment.

"Sort of. Yes."

"Who's your master? Anyone I heard of?"

"I have but one master, but I haven't found her yet." Wait a second. A strange thought struck her. Was this, what she was feeling for this woman, her revelation? She immediately cast the idea out. That was impossible. It couldn't possibly be. Tentei wouldn't give her her revelation through intense sexual attraction. That would be much too strange. Best not to consider such insanity. But even so, that sense of connection with this woman was increasing with every moment.

The woman let out an aggravated sigh. "Another line."

"It would be my second. It's true, though."

The look the woman gave her now was definitely softer, with a curious tinge. Aku wondered what she was doing to sway her. Or maybe she simply felt it too, their connection. "Touke."

"I'm sorry?"

"Touke. My name."

"How do you write that?"

Touke put down the rag and dried her hands off on her clothes. She grabbed Aku's wrist and turned it so she could write on her palm. From where their skin met came a wave of sensations she couldn't describe—a sort of heat, a sort of tingling, a sort of tension. So much from such a simple touch. Aku paid special attention to Touke's finger tracing on her palm. The first meant lamp or candle, and the second meant rarity or hope. Interesting name. Touke dropped her hand and went back to her wiping.

"That's a pretty name."

"Right, sure."

"Do you want to know mine?" she asked. Touke wiped off a hand again, and held out a palm. Aku took it, trying not to think overmuch on how smooth her skin was, how good it felt just to touch her. She drew the characters, saying her name aloud.

"Pretty," Touke said as she retracted her hand. "Suits you."

There was a rush of heat and excitement in her, and Aku's face almost hurt with how hard she was smiling. "Thank you."

"Stupid. Shouldn'ta said that," Touke muttered.

"Why not?"

"Just gonna encourage you."

"Now, I thought that was exactly why you said it."

Touke gave her a grimace as a response. This time, Aku wasn't successful in holding in her laugh. It went a good deal toward releasing a pressure she hadn't even realized was building. With the end of her laugh, again it started mounting, just at the edge of her awareness, as subtle as the sound of a small bug flying around through the air.

"Touke," came a voice from the direction Aku had come. "You know better than to talk to customers when you should be working." Aku turned to see entering the room a short, severe-looking woman with hair whitened from age.

"Sorry, ma'am. Aku here came looking for a room, and there's no one up front, so she asking where to." Good guess.

The owner, Aku guessed, was giving Touke a look like she didn't believe her. Aku stood up and said, "I do need a room for the night. Maybe a few nights." The owner nodded, and gestured for Aku to follow her back up front. "Can we continue this later?" Aku whispered back to Touke.

Touke nodded, and pointed at a table in the corner. "Late." Then she turned away, and moved to another table. Aku had, she thought, stalled her on those two tables far longer than she should have been there. She turned to leave. It seemed each step further from Touke tore her apart from the inside, but pushing herself as hard as she could she made it away. After a few steps she was breathing heavily from the psychic exertion.

Soon Aku was alone in the room. It was little different than the other rooms she had had. She sat on the slightly hard bed, drumming her fingers on the surface. It still hurt being away from Touke. She was still nervous, and she wasn't even around Touke anymore. What had Touke thought of her? What kind of impression had she made? Was Touke thinking about her right now? She hoped she was. What was going to happen later tonight? Possibilities flicked through her mind, everywhere from exciting, to depressing, to terrifying. She stayed on her bed, jittering in place a little in her anxiety.

"Kyourin." That was Kasshi.

"Don't just talk from my shadow," Aku said. Now her voice was shaky. "Come out where I can touch you."

So Kasshi did. She sat on the bed, wrapping her arms around Aku from behind. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little shaken."

"Is she the queen?"

Aku took a moment to consider. The jumble of emotions and sensations was just too confusing. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Either she is, and Tentei has a sense of humor, or she's not, and I just want sex."

Even though Aku couldn't see it, she knew Kasshi was frowning. "Sex?"

"I'm very attracted to her. Very. It doesn't feel right, off somehow."

A short pause. "Strange."

"You're telling me."

When Kasshi next spoke, her voice was thoughtful. "Revelations come in all forms. It's possible. What do you mean by 'off'?"

Aku shrugged. "I'm not sure. It just doesn't feel natural." Aku thought for a moment, trying to put her feelings to words. "It isn't just the attraction. I feel connected to her. Like… Like when a strong sound causes an object to vibrate, and create an echo. Like that, resonance."

"She's the queen," Kasshi said with confidence.

"You're sure?" muttered Aku, still disbelieving.

"Sure enough to protect her."

Aku nodded her agreement. "The king is found," she said to her shirei. Long ago, she had set up code phrases to give orders without having to explain it every time. Just saying those words told a collection of her shirei to jump over to Touke's shadow, and work to protect her from anyone who might harm her. She felt them leaving her in a rush. Letting out a long sigh, Aku leaned back against Kasshi, who tightened her arms around her. "What do I say?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to change her life forever. What do I say? How do I even start that conversation?"

Kasshi had nothing to say to that.

* * *

Suika: 翆河

Yuutei: 攸坻

Touke: 燈希


	10. Chapter Nine

Aku came to no decision. She spent hours in her room, trying to decide on what she should do. With Kasshi she rehearsed a few directions for the conversation to go. She couldn't find anything that didn't sound blunt and unfeeling. It was amazing that she cared if she were blunt and unfeeling, considering how important it was that Touke get her way to Soufuu. Lives were in the balance, but the thought of hurting Touke, even in such a minor way, was sending powerful shivers of displeasure through her. She would do it tonight, she knew. They would be leaving for Houzan in the morning, maybe even tonight if she could push it. There was no changing that. It had to be done, and it had to be done now.

But she still couldn't decide _how_ she was going to do it. It was a rather momentous occasion. Her whole existence centered on it. But she couldn't decide. One would think she would be prepared for this. She had spent her whole life preparing for this. But now that the moment had come, she didn't know what to do.

She decided it was probably late enough. The sun had been down for a little while now. She had been pacing around her room, trying to get her thoughts together. She still had no plan as to how she was going to do this. She would just have to work from nothing. It took a moment to collect herself, pull herself back together so she was strong enough to be around people. This whole business was taking a lot out of her. She wasn't used to this much internal conflict.

At first, on the way along the hall and down the slightly rickety stairs, her steps were slow, heavy, as though being crushed under the gravity of what she was about to do. But it seemed with each step, the burden got lighter and lighter. By the time she got to the dining room she felt she was almost flying. Immediately her eyes fell on Touke in a back corner. The feelings she had felt before, that messy confusion of physical sensations and mental wanderings, exploded to life in her head, but underlying that was a feeling of giddiness. She was happy to see Touke again, so happy. These hours apart had been too many. Her steps toward Touke were so smooth and quick this time she was pretty sure she was flying this time.

Aku flopped down into a chair next to Touke. Her momentum almost carried it over sideways. "Hi," she said immediately. She was sure her voice was near a squeal, and she knew she had a stupid grin on her face.

Touke gave her a look. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it wasn't exactly not one either. Aku found herself hoping she found her exuberance cute. "Hey, there. Has anyone told you you act like a child sometimes?"

"Repeatedly. I'm not far from being a child anyway."

Now Touke frowned. Aku got the impression it was directed inward. "Really? How old are you?"

"Only fifteen," Aku admitted. The way Touke was looking at her, she almost felt it was a crime. She tried not to shrink too much.

Touke let out a sigh. "So young."

"How old are you?"

"That depends on how you mean," she said after a short pause.

Aku considered that for a moment. Then her eyes widened. "You're a sennin?"

"Used to be. Gave it up," Touke said with a shrug.

"If you were a sennin what are you doing working here?"

Touke shrugged again. "I was a servant anyway. Not a big change."

"Why did you give it up?"

"Everyone who knew me on the outside was dead. Very lonely."

Aku thought she understood what that would be like. But she felt a little guilty. If Touke were to become Kyou-Ou, she would once again be immortal. Everyone she knew would die and she would live on—assuming she didn't lose the Way right away. Those were depressing thoughts, the both of them. But really, Touke was already the queen, as far as Aku was concerned. Everyone else just had to realize it. "So how old were you before?"

"Twenty three."

"How old are you now? Physically."

"Twenty seven -ish."

Wow. Aku was pretty young, compared to Touke. This was kind of intimidating. She was sure Touke could see her as nothing more than a child. The thought aggravated her more than a little. She wanted Touke's respect, needed it, and wasn't sure she'd be able to get it. She decided to joke about it. "Well, I hope you can tolerate this little child."

This time, Touke's near-smile seemed nearer to blossoming. "For a little child, you're not bad."

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment."

Touke shrugged. "I was thinking about getting some liquor. Do you want anything?"

"I've never had any before." Could Kirin even drink liquor? She didn't know. She didn't see why not. Suddenly she was curious: was she even capable of becoming intoxicated? There was much about Kirin physiology that still went without being understood, and she wasn't sure she'd ever read or been told about this particular thing. "I can try, I guess."

"I'll just get a bottle then. Be right back."

Aku watched Touke walk away. Very closely. Tingles ran across her skin and her hands started shaking. She clenched her fists and took a moment to simply breathe. Then another one. She suddenly felt like she wasn't getting enough air. It took some effort to breathe normally, and not start hyperventilating again. She needed to get herself calmed before Touke got back. In the end she barely managed it.

Touke arrived with a bottle and a pair of cups. "Sorry I took so long. Got held up."

"Not a problem." Honestly, Aku had hardly noticed the passage of time.

With a sigh, Touke sat in her chair again. Aku noticed that Touke's chair was noticeably closer to hers. Breathe. Breathe. She had never imagined she could be so nervous. Touke poured some of the liquor into the cups, and slid one toward Aku. "Cheers." She downed her cup in one gulp, and set it down, a slight grimace running across her face.

Aku decided to imitate her. She nearly spit it right back out. The liquor was bitter, almost acrid, and she felt like the inside of her mouth were burning. She somehow managed to swallow it, though it took great effort, and the drink seemed to scorch her throat on the way down. Not nearly as bad as meat, though still the second most disgusting thing she had ever had in her mouth. She let out a long shudder. Touke had a slight smirk on her face. "How do people drink that?"

"It takes some getting used to." Touke moved to refill their cups.

Aku covered her cup with her hand before Touke could get to it. "No. I'm done."

"That was fast."

"I don't want to scar the inside of my mouth."

Now Touke really did smile. It was pretty often that Aku got a sense of accomplishment in making people smile, but nothing like this. She would surely explode simply trying to contain the impossible feeling of giddiness that surged to life in her. "That's okay. I'll just drink by myself."

"If I'm sitting right next to you, you're not drinking by yourself."

"I guess not," Touke said with a shrug. "Maybe hold myself back, though."

"I don't mind."

"If I drink too much, I may lose control of myself."

Aku frowned. She could tell Touke meant something by that. "What?"

There was a mischievous glint in Touke's eyes that sent a thrill through her. "You're pretty cute, you know."

She had thought the giddiness before had been powerful. It was nothing compared to this. She was dizzy with it, enough that the world swirled around her. Touke had complimented her! She was sure she had never been so happy in her life. It took a moment for her to realize what Touke was implying. Against her will, she felt her face flush. Was she embarrassed? What was she embarrassed about? That was exactly what she wanted. "I don't mind. Do what you want." She was pretty sure she wouldn't resist this woman in anything. She didn't have the heart to. "So where are you from? Originally."

"Kyou." Of course, Aku had already known that. "Nowhere special. Just some little village in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't nobody what care about us. You?"

She almost said Houzan. Instead she decided to hide her identity a little longer and said, "Kyou as well. Ten Province. Not far from the capital."

"You must have been rich, way you talk." She downed another cup. "But you said you was a servant."

"It's a long story." Aku really didn't know what to say. She wouldn't be able to string up enough lies to be convincing. "How did you come to be a sennin? You said you were a servant."

Touke shrugged. "I got tired of being a farmer. Pledged myself to someone high up. Joined his staff."

"And he made you a sennin?" said Aku with a frown.

"You need to be a sennin to serve a sennin, right? Else it would be a pain to learn new faces." That made a strange sort of sense. She knew many of the servants in the capitol were sennin, but she hadn't expected that to apply elsewhere as well. "You said you was a servant. Who you serve?"

Aku noticed Touke's rural accent was getting thicker. She didn't know if it was because she was letting her guard down or just the alcohol. Aku decided to answer honestly. "Kyou-Ou."

That widened Touke's eyes. "There is no Kyou-Ou," she said after a moment.

"Even so." Aku gave her a smile that she hoped wasn't giving too much away. She wasn't sure how a smile could give her away, but she supposed it was possible.

They talked for a while. Aku managed to pull off a gradual interview, though the information she got was pretty superficial. Somehow she did that while revealing very little of herself. Every once in a while throughout their conversation, she would feel the most intense flashes of happiness, so powerful she could hardly imagine anything greater. Even between those flashes, she was kept at an elevated state of pleasure. Nothing, she was sure, could bring her down from this height.

"I swear," Touke said at one point. "We had to have met before."

Aku smiled. "I don't think we have." That would be pretty much impossible, unless Touke had taken a shouzan. Which she very much doubted.

"I dunno. I just feel like I know you."

There was another of those flashes of ecstatic euphoria. Did this mean Touke was feeling their connection too? That had to be it. She could hardly contain herself. She wanted to jump up and down, spin in a circle, let out some of her giddiness and nervous energy. Of course she couldn't. That would make too much of a spectacle of herself, and probably put off Touke. "I do too. Since I saw you I've felt we were connected somehow."

"Hmm." Touke seemed to be considering something, so Aku waited for her to speak her thoughts. "I kinda wanna explore this."

"Explore how?"

There was that glint in her eyes again. "Somewhere private. You got a room?"

The giddiness turned into the most extreme nervousness she had ever felt. Her mouth instantly dried. She withstrained the urge to swallow or collapse into herself, but even so it was hard to keep control of herself. As surreptitiously as possible, she took a deep breath to keep herself calm. "Yes, I do."

"Let's go." Touke jumped to her feet, slightly unsteadily for a moment, but she quickly balanced herself. Following her lead, they reversed and Aku then led her up to her room. All awhile, she felt Touke behind her as a tangible presence, almost as though they were touching. She had to take a few more calming breaths. Soon she was unlocking the door, and they were inside. Then she had to take a few _more _calming breaths. "Relax, Aku," Touke said with a slight smile. "Not gonna do nothing. It was just stuffy in there."

That didn't set Aku's nerves at ease at all. Even so, she nodded at Touke's words. "Nothing special, I know."

"The room?" asked Touke with a frown. "I knew what it would be like. I clean these out a hundred times." Aku hadn't really been talking about the room, but that's okay.

So they talked some more, about nothing in particular, really. Aku told a few stories of her childhood, doing her best to hide her abilities, or the fact that she was raised by nyosen. That took a little editing. Touke talked about her eighty years as a servant, and eventually starting work at this place. How it was sad there were refugees everywhere, how terrible their lives were. Touke said at one point she hoped Kyou-Ou would be chosen soon, so everything could get fixed up. She actually used the phrase "that damn Kirin," which made Aku a little uncomfortable. All while they talked, sitting on the bed, Touke seemed to gradually get closer and closer to her. Aku's heart thudded in her throat harder and harder as she neared.

Eventually Touke broke off, and just stared at Aku. Aku stared right back. "I know I said I ain't gonna do nothing," she started.

Aku had to resist the urge to swallow again. "But?"

"Stop me if you don't want this." Without giving her time to react, Touke quickly leaned forward and kissed her.

It was nothing like when she had kissed Mei. This time trumpets did indeed go off in her head. She suddenly felt hot, like she were burning from the inside. It was similar to blood sickness, but where that felt painful this felt amazing. She was suddenly a little dizzy again. Her heart started beating in a frantic staccato rhythm. Touke's lips against hers—soft, warm, smooth—was simply the best thing she had ever felt

Touke started pulling away, but Aku followed her, keeping their lips together. She could feel Touke laugh slightly in the back of her throat. It seemed like they kissed forever, the pressure in Aku building. This time it didn't surprise her when their tongues met. Immediately, Touke made a noise. For a moment Aku worried she tasted bad. But it seemed to be the opposite. After making her light sound, Touke pushed harder against her, faster, enough that Aku was having trouble keeping up. But that was okay. She was getting lost in the heat and the less than simple feelings of their mouths dancing.

Touke started pushing further against her. It was obvious what she was communicating, so without letting them separate, Aku slowly leaned backward and to the side until she was laying down on the bed. She felt she was drowning in Touke, her tongue in her mouth, the pressure of her body on her. She didn't mind the feeling at all. It didn't take much longer for Touke to start frantically scrabbling at her clothes. Aku's heart beat faster and faster, the pressure in her building harder. As Touke started undressing her, she separated from Aku's mouth, and moved her lips next to her ear. "Oh, Heaven," she hissed, her breathing heavy. "You taste so fucking good." A wave of happiness, that she could please Touke so, rushed through her. It was good she tasted good, very good.

Distantly, somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Mei, not the governor, had said the same thing. Maybe it was because she was a Kirin. If she tasted good to youma, why not humans?

It seemed it only took seconds for Touke to undress her, and soon she was lying naked on the bed. She tried not to shake with her nervousness and excitement. She wasn't embarrassed, not exactly; she spent a lot of time naked around the nyosen. But she was nervous. She wanted to be attractive to Touke, she needed to be. Her anxiety bubbled in her throat right next to her heart. She waited for a sign that Touke didn't like what she was seeing, some sign that she was going to be cast aside so quickly.

Such a sign didn't come. In fact, Touke barely seemed to notice. Again she attached her mouth to Aku's, taking away her ability to breathe. She ran her free hand along Aku's side, taking away her ability to make coherent thoughts. Touke's hand against her bare skin felt so unbelievably good she was sure her skin was expanding outward to meet her touch. Her lungs burned for air but she ignored it.

Then Touke left her mouth. She kissed a line across her face and down to her neck. Aku turned her head to give Touke better access, and her breath hitched as Touke met skin. She hadn't known her neck could be this sensitive. Waves of pleasure ran through her with each touch, forcefully dashing her thoughts against the rocks. She managed to let out a moan through her frantic breaths. As Touke worked her way downward the pressure in her built until she was sure she was going to burst. This was all so much she felt she couldn't take much more. She felt like Touke was going to tear her to pieces with her touch. She had no will to stop her. Soon she had absolutely no ability to think, mind disordered by body.

Without a thought, she gave herself up to Touke completely.


	11. Chapter Ten

_Wow, okay, forgot about this. I'm going to post the rest of the chapters I wrote ages ago. I doubt I'll ever finish this story._

* * *

Aku had never been so happy in her life.

She was laying down on the bed, partially on top of Touke. Her naked body pressed up against hers felt so incredible she wouldn't have been able to imagine anything like it before tonight. Half of her breaths came out as contented sighs. She listened to Touke's breathing, to her heart. She had never felt so close to anyone in her life, and it sent a bubbling feeling of happiness all through her. She could hardly contain it. If it didn't feel so good just laying on Touke she would probably be dancing around the room right now.

But under that came a new determination. The people of Kyou needed Touke. She had stalled for too long already. She couldn't put this off just because she was having fun, for her own happiness. She had to do this now. It might be awkward, but it had to be done eventually, and any moment was as good as any other. She took a long breath to gather herself. She turned her face up towards Touke's.

To see she had been watching her. A slight smile spread on her face. "Hello, there."

Aku smiled back at her, hers much wider, she was sure. "Hello."

"You know, everyone in the building likely heard you."

"That's okay. Let them listen."

"Good philosophy," Touke said with a nod.

Aku let a short silence pass, smiling at her. Now. Do it now. "Hey, Touke."

"Yeah?"

"What do you know of the Taiho?"

Now Touke raised an eyebrow at her, clearly confused as to why Aku was bringing this up all of a sudden. "No more than anyone else. Big, excitable idiot."

"I meant the Kyou Taiho."

"Oh. Not a lot. She's a girl. Red hair. Likes dancing. That's pretty much it. Why?"

"Because you just had sex with her."

Touke gave her a short look. Then burst out into laughter. On her chest, Aku was bounced around a little, and she tried her best to keep an annoyed expression from her face. "Right, you're the Taiho. And I'm the queen of Han."

Aku frowned up at her. "Seriously. I am."

"Sure, Aku. Sure."

She had spent so much time hiding she was a Kirin, and now that she wanted someone to know, she couldn't convince her. "Kirin are light, right?" Aku rolled more fully onto Touke. "See how light I am?"

"You're really skinny," Touke said with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't know that. And do Kirin even have sex?"

"Not usually. Red Kirin are different."

"Right," said Touke, drawing the word out. "Of course."

"Seriously. We are. Ever since I was young they've been saying _You'll understand when you're older_ and it always really annoyed me, but there was nothing I could do about it. A couple weeks ago I finally talked about it with Gyokuyou and she told me all about it."

"Gyokuyou? You mean the Genkun?"

"Well, yeah, of course. She's not really around all the time, but I've met her plenty of times. She's a busy woman, you know."

Touke let out another laugh. "You're sticking to this pretty good. Not the best of jokes, but still, good work."

Aku let out a long sigh. This wasn't working. "Kasshi? Come on out." Kasshi obediently came springing out of her shadow.

At her sudden appearance, Touke jolted in place. She stared at the silent nyokai with wide eyes. Then her gaze tracked back to Aku, who gave her a smile. Suddenly Touke let out a yelp, and squirmed out from under Aku, scrambled away from her. Aku immediately regretted causing the loss of contact. The look on Touke's face was strange, and Aku couldn't place it. "Taiho!" she practically shouted. "I didn't know. I didn't know! I'm sorry! Forgive me!"

Before Touke could prostrate herself, Aku grabbed her bare shoulders, keeping her from the ground. "It's okay. You don't have to do that."

It looked like Touke might cry. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you! I didn't know!" She covered her face with her hands and groaned. "I can't believe I had sex with the Taiho! Oh god…"

Rubbing her back, trying to reassure her, Aku said, "It's really no different than having sex with your servant."

Not helping. "You're not supposed to do that, either!" she yelled, somehow even more agitated.

If she was going to act like this, Aku may as well pile everything on at once. As gently as possible, she pulled Touke up by the elbows, turned her, and sat her down on the edge of the bed. Aku stroked her hair for a moment. "I have something else I have to say to you," she said. She kissed her cheek, then sunk to her knees.

It was said that it was absolutely impossible for a Kirin to prostrate herself before anyone but her liege. Kirin weren't required to do it for any other human, or even during rituals before Tentei. No one at all. A long time ago, Aku hadn't really believed this, so had decided to test it out on Sekto. That had really made Sekto uncomfortable. But sure enough, her head refused to lower much further than halfway. No matter how hard she tried to push she couldn't get it down. She still wasn't completely sure Touke was the queen. There was a lot of evidence she was, but she wasn't quite sure she could believe it. The form the evidence came in was very strange. So she considered this as the final test, a way to be sure without a doubt that Touke was Kyou-Ou

She lowered her head toward the ground. That simple action seemed to take forever. At some level, she was waiting for it to happen, for her to reach a point where she couldn't lower herself any further. But it didn't come. Her head touched her hands. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Above her, Touke let out another of her yelps. Aku opened her mouth to say the ritual phrase, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was. Her mind was too distracted by the gravity of the moment, by the frothing feeling of happiness and excitement swirling in her head. She had actually found Kyou-Ou! So instead she made something up, to the effect of, "Always to serve you, never to desert you, to protect and guide you until the day I die, this is my vow." She waited a short moment, filled only by Touke's shuttering breathing. "Say you accept."

"I can't," she squeaked out.

"Do it. Please."

Touke hesitated another long moment. Finally she said, so lowly Aku almost couldn't hear her, "I accept."

She felt a greater sense of contentment just with the words. She shook it off for the moment. It took a few degrees of looking up for Aku to spot Touke's foot. Gently, she touched her horn to it. Her muscles froze, and something entered her. It was like a great wind pushing into her, flapping about inside of her with great force. If she weren't frozen in place she would probably shudder. Then it rushed forward, gathering in her horn, then passed through it into Touke. Now she let herself feel her happiness, feel her relief. She had done it. Her search was over. She could finally get to Kyou, and start helping put the country back together. She could finally do her duty she had been being educated her whole life to do.

Touke let out another yelp. When Aku looked up, it was to find her plastered against the wall, breathing heavily. "What was that? What did you do?"

Aku sat up fully. "Nothing. Tentei just blessed us."

"Oh god. This is really happening, isn't it?" Touke sat there, not looking at Aku, panting as though there were simply not enough air in the room. Aku decided to give her a little time. A few minutes passed before she had calmed a little. "Okay," she said. She repeated the word a few times. "Okay. What's next?"

"We go to Houzan to receive the Mandate."

"Right. Of course. I knew that. Do I bring anything?"

"No, just yourself. You don't really have to worry about material possessions ever again."

That made Touke laugh. It was a cold, bitter laugh, strangely enough, like it were funny in a painful way. "I guess not. When do we leave?"

Aku was about to say right away, but then she considered. "What time is it?"

"I dunno. Gotta be midnight by now."

"Alright. Tomorrow morning, early." She thought of something again. "I'm sorry, do you have anyone you want to say goodbye to?"

Touke shrugged. "Not really. I been alone a while now. Other than single nights sometimes."

For some reason, Aku found herself smiling. She slunk over to sit on the bed next to her. "What, do you do this often?"

"Never with the Taiho."

For some reason, Aku found herself laughing. "I'd hope not. You can only have one of us."

Touke grunted, still staring off into space. "So I'm stuck with you."

"Until you mess something up and we both die."

"That's a cheerful thought."

"Relax. Someone might kill us before you can mess it up."

"That makes me feel so much better."

"Especially how things are going now, we might not even get to rule." Touke gave her a weird look at that, but Aku didn't feel like talking about the Chousai at the moment. There was plenty of time to fill her in later. "Never mind for now. It's getting late, and we should probably sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."

Touke nodded. "I'll just go home then."

As Touke moved for her clothes, Aku grabbed her wrist to stop her. "It's okay. You can stay. If you want to."

Touke paused for a long moment as though considering. "I dunno. I figured you wouldn't want me around all the time."

There wasn't really any reason for Aku not to tell the truth. "I'm happy when you're around, happier than I've ever been. That's usually the way Kirin are with their kings. Not that I don't like you all on my own as well. So you can stay if you want."

Again, Touke considered for a short while. Then she sighed. "Okay. I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered as she moved toward the bed again.

"Doing what?"

"Sleeping with the Taiho."

Aku smiled as Touke slid into bed next to her. Once she was settled, Aku returned to how she was before this conversation—laying halfway on her, her headed settled on her shoulder. "I'm nothing special. Just an ordinary girl."

"Right. You had me convinced before you pulled the youma out of nowhere. Then made it disappear."

Aku hadn't even really noticed Kasshi slide back into her shadow. She had been busy. "That wasn't technically a youma. That was my nyokai."

"What's a nyokai?"

Aku was about to explain the proper meaning, then decided to go with the simple one she had told the refugees. "She's like my mother."

"Ah." Silence fell. Aku had never been more comfortable in her life, cuddled into her queen like this. She was so blissfully happy she couldn't believe it. It was time to sleep, but if she didn't fall asleep for hours she wouldn't have minded. This was the best place to be in the world. After a few minutes, Touke said, "Taiho."

"You can keep calling me Aku."

"Right. What's it called when the Taiho gets sick? When the king messes up."

What was this about? Was she already worried about that? "Shitsudou."

"Right. I'll try not to do that to you. If I can help it."

Aku felt the smile on her lips. "Okay. I'll try to keep you from messing up."

"Okay. Deal."

Aku didn't want to wake up. She was having the best sleep of her life. Touke was a better pillow than any she had ever had. She felt so warm with Touke, so content. Her sleep had been completely dreamless. Or at least mostly—her dreams had seemed to be nothing but emotion, floating and bright. And she didn't want it to end. She wanted to go back into that warm, safe place, where nothing could ever be wrong. Really, it felt sort of like that in real life too, laying here in Touke's arms. She let out a long, happy sigh.

But there was real life to consider. They had to get to Houzan. Well, first she would say goodbye to those refugees that had followed her, and then they would leave. If she pushed Nansou a little more than usual, the trip should be a little shorter. Then they would stay a night or two—maybe longer, depending on the signs—with the nyosen. Then they would ascend the mountain, and head off for Soufuu. If they even made it that far. The real world demanded she get up.

Stupid real world.

"Taiho!" came a soft, high voice. "Taiho! Taiho!"

Aku opened her eyes. The room was filled with a gentle light, slipping in through the single window. It was just after dawn, she guessed. On the ground in front of her was one of her shirei, trying to get her attention. It was a long, tubular thing, almost completely made of fur. It had been one of the first she had ever pacified. It was mostly useless, but adorable. Apparently, though, they were well-hated by people on shouzan—they liked chewing off toes while the victim slept. Lately, she had been having it carry letters back and forth with Mei, the governor. This must be her reply.

Very slowly, she started moving. She hoped if she would move slowly and gradually enough she wouldn't wake up Touke. But even as she moved, Touke said, "I was wondering how long it would take for that damn thing to wake you up."

Aku groaned at her. "I'm up. Hold on, Shomou." Her body somewhat reluctant—she wondered if it were because she was tired or because she didn't want to remove herself from Touke—she pushed herself up, and crawled off the bed and down to Shomou. She took the letter from his paws. "Good job, boy," she said, scratching behind his ear. The little thing purred.

"Are you really petting your youma? That is a youma, right?"

"Sure, why not? And they're called shirei." Mei's response seemed very light, and when she opened it, she saw it was indeed short. Very short.

_Aku Taiho—_ (Mei always addressed her letters like that, as though she were trying to find some balance between showing respect and using the name Aku had chosen for herself.)

_I do not have a lot of time, and I want to ensure this reaches you in sufficient time. So I will be brief._

_The Chousai, calling himself Kyou-Ou, has demanded the supplication of the provinces under his rule, and that we cede over our armies. I have been in correspondence with my colleagues. We expect three of the provinces—Ten, An, and Fu—to heed his call, and we are unsure about Ken. Four of the others—Kai, Sou, E, and ourselves—will surely ally against the Chousai, and possibly Retsu. It is likely Retsu will align with us should you and our liege arrive, and possibly Ken. We are very near civil war. With the Royal Army in consideration, the combatants in this imminent war will be rather evenly split. It is my hope that with your arrival Retsu and Ken will come about, and we will have the advantage._

_I know you dislike violence. _(That was an understatement.) _I did my very best to prevent this conflict. If we have the advantage, we should be able to take Soufuu quickly, and put an end to the war. That is why we need you to find our liege as soon as possible. If you truly have left for Han, I wish you greatest luck in finding him._

_Plan B is in effect. I'll be waiting._

—_Mei_ (She always signed with simply her given name, not her uji or even her azana.)

With a long sigh, Aku set the paper down, and rubbed the side of her forehead. War. Of course. Because it would have just been too easy without killing people. "Is something wrong?" asked Touke from behind her. Without a word, Aku handed the letter over her shoulder to her.

"Okay, Shomou," she said with another sigh. "I don't have anything to write with, so you'll just have to carry this verbally. Tell her _I found Kyou-Ou. I'm on my way_. Do you have that?"

Shomou nodded his fuzzy head. "Yes, Taiho." Aku gave him a few more scratches, then he vanished.

"I can't do this," Touke muttered.

Aku turned around to look at her. She was holding the paper in her hand, staring down at it. The expression on her face was a strange mix of horror and regret. Her hands were shaking slightly. Aku had expected a reaction similar to that, so it didn't surprise her too much. "Of course you can. We'll have most of the governors and their armies on our side."

"No. I mean…" Touke gulped. "I can't do this. This queen thing."

"Of course you can. Tentei chose you."

"I mean…" Touke's face was slowly turning red. "I can't…" She mumbled low enough Aku couldn't hear.

"You can't what?"

When Touke spoke again it came as a sudden shout. "I can't read, okay?!" Then her eyes grew watery, and Aku knew she was about to cry.

Aku sprung up, and took a spot just next to Touke on the bed. She held her, rubbing her back. Then she thought of something. "But we traded name characters."

"I can write my name and a few other things. I pretended to know what yours meant." Her voice was wet and stuttering. "How pathetic is this? I'm a hundred years old and I can't even read. I can't do this, I can't."

"It's okay, it's okay," Aku insisted. "It's no big deal. I'll teach you. And until you get the hang of it I'll just read everything to you."

"You can't be serious. You'll be busy."

"I'll make time. Look, I'll start with this." Aku, with her arm still around Touke, picked up the letter and read it aloud.

That probably wasn't the best thing to do to reassure Touke. Her face had gone from red to white. "No. I can't do this. I can't lead people into a war."

"The governors, Mei, will do most of the leading. You just have to be there. And maybe fight a little."

"Fight!" repeated Touke with another dark laugh. "I can't fight. You need someone to clean and I'm your girl, but there's no way I can swing a sword around."

"Don't worry," Aku said softly, hoping to sooth her just with her voice. "It's okay. My shirei will protect you. I already assigned some to watch over you. And I have a hinman just for you."

"What's a hinman?"

"Hinman know how to fight pretty well. I'll attach it to you right now, just in case."

Touke turned her head to look up at her. "Attach? This ain't gonna be weird, is it?"

Aku could only laugh. Yes, it was probably going to be weird.

* * *

Shomou: 鼠毛

An Province: 殷州

Fu Province: 渢州

Ken Province: 綣州

Kai Province: 愷州

Sou Province: 聡州

E Province: 懐州

Retsu Province: 厲州

Azana (字): a name given to adults for formal situations (in the past, not anymore). I used the native Japanese reading because I'm not sure if the _on'yomi_ can be used for that. I know azana were used in the original material, but I can't remember if they were used with this meaning or something else. Oh well.

Uji (氏): a chosen formal surname. Same as above.


	12. Chapter Eleven

It turned out it was weird. Touke spent some time later scrabbling at her neck, as though trying to pull the hinman out. Even while Aku was paying for the room Touke was still pawing at the back of her neck with a pained expression on her face. She found it cute. Touke said some quick words of goodbye to the owner, really more a brusque _I'm never coming back, see ya _sort of thing than a proper goodbye. Neither of them mentioned she was Kyou-Ou. They left the inn.

The city hadn't quite woken up yet. There was still a sleepiness to the air, as though the dreams of the people were permeating the streets. Aku found herself stepping lighter than usual, as though trying to keep from disturbing them, getting odd looks from Touke. They made their way to the side of the city the refugees were on. By the quality of the buildings, it was clearly the poorer quarter of the city. Even so, the refugees were mostly camped outside the walls, in a messy jumble of tents and campfires.

A few of the refugees called out to her long before they got to the camp. It was likely the ones she had been traveling with had told the others she was with them; either that, or there was someone else around who had been on a shouzan. Some of them quickly moved to wake the rest up, and a few minutes after they had arrived the whole camp was awake and crowding around them. These people seemed most cheerful with Aku around, which made her feel a little guilty that she was leaving. There wasn't a lot she could do about that though. She had a duty, a duty to them, and she had to leave. There was no choice.

After a few more minutes, she told them she had found Kyou-Ou, while gesturing at Touke. Their reactions were split. Some immediately dropped to the ground. Some stood as though dumbstruck. Others jumped into the air with elated shouts, vocalizing their excitement. They talked for a few more minutes, during which Aku almost had to laugh with how they were treating Touke. They were being so distant and polite, more than they were with her.

Not too long after that she had to break it up. She explained they had to get to Houzan quickly so they could immediately get to Soufuu Palace and get things going. She didn't say a thing about the coming war. There was no use in getting them worried about her and Touke's safety. Plan A would probably be suicide, but that's why there was a B and C. Soon they said their goodbyes, hopped up on Nansou—his appearance had gotten a shout of surprise from Touke and most of the refugees—and they were off.

With the jolt off the ground, Touke had let out another of her yelps, and tightened her grip around Aku. Which she wasn't exactly complaining about. Much less than the thing itself, simply thinking about physical contact with Touke sent thrills of excitement and pleasure through her, so Touke touching her like this made it the best flight she had ever had. And she liked flying. Aku could feel her shaking a little bit. But after not too long in the air, she relaxed, and loosened her hold a little. "What happened to the wind?" she eventually asked.

"Some shirei and youjuu put up some sort of magic around them so you don't feel the air rushing around," Aku tried to explain. "Actually, we don't really understand it. Kirin do the same thing though."

"People ride Kirin?" she muttered in mild confusion.

Aku could kind of understand her thinking. Kirin were such highly respected creatures that the thought of someone riding one must seem strange. "You can ride me, if you want. I wouldn't do it with anyone else though. Well, Renki, but he doesn't count." She had done that a few times, partially to practice Plan C.

"Renki?"

"Ren Taiho."

"Oh, right. Is that like a rule or something?"

"Well, sort of."

A long pause as they flew, Touke clearly in thought. "I don't know nothing."

That was a weird and random thing for her to say. "I'm sure you know plenty of things."

"I mean about Kirin."

"You knew enough not to argue with me when I told you you are Kyou-Ou."

"Yeah, everyone know that. Tentei tells you or something."

Aku smiled. Well, she smiled _wider_; she had already been smiling. Just being around Touke seemed to make her constantly all smiles. "Exactly that. It isn't like a whisper in the ear, or something, but I could tell the moment I saw you." Technically, she had felt something the moment she saw Touke that she had _later _interpreted as her revelation. But still. "Besides, I could prostrate myself."

"What?"

"It is physically impossible for a Kirin to do that with anyone but their liege."

"See, things like this. I didn't know that. And if I even know so little about you, how can I do something as out of my league as ruling a kingdom? That's even more out of my experience."

"You can do it. I know you can."

"So you say."

Aku tried not to sigh. Touke having doubts was not entirely unexpected, and it was perfectly understandable. But there was no reason for them. "Tentei would not have chosen you if you couldn't do it. It's as simple as that."

"But sometimes kings are total failures."

Aku shrugged. "Every king has the potential for greatness. Tentei wouldn't choose them otherwise. But they are at a basic level human. Humans make mistakes. And of course there are outside factors. So you _can _do it. Whether or not you _will _do it is the question."

"Yeah, I get it."

"Besides, you have to fight for the throne before you get it anyway. Worry about that first."

"Yeah." Touke paused for a moment; even without being able to see her, Aku knew to wait for her to speak again. "Is that a common thing? Having to fight?"

"Yes, sadly enough. Very common. I'm not really sure why."

"People like their power."

"Yes, that's what I don't understand."

"Of course not. You're not really human, are you?"

"No, not technically," Aku said with a smile. Touke said nothing, letting that hang in the air. She got the impression that her not being human bothered Touke for some reason, but she supposed there wasn't a whole lot she could do about that. She looked and acted enough like a human for pretty much everyone.

They flew continuously for some portion of the day. But Nansou had only flown this far a couple times in his life, and now he had some extra weight. It took training to fly long distances, especially with any excess baggage. Aku, though, didn't want to waste another day before ascending Houzan. So they stopped on the shores of Hakukai to give Nansou a rest. While they waited, Touke barely said a word, simply staring at the sea, clearly deep in thought. Aku suggested she take a nap, for they would be on Nansou for some time yet, but she didn't say a word. Soon they were flying again.

Another whole day passed, curving to the southeast, before they actually crossed Hakukai. The flight over Hakukai, as it was the first time, and with how silent Touke was being, was incredibly boring. But eventually she did speak. "So how do you carry around all those youma anyway? This thing just popped out of nowhere."

"I am not a thing," Nansou said, a little irritably.

Touke jumped against her back, and Aku laughed. "His name is Nansou."

"Alright then," she said, clearly still thrown by a youma talking. "Nansou just popped out of nowhere."

"When I was younger I used to think they just lived in my shadow, and were able to move themselves between other shadows. I still catch myself thinking like that."

"But that's not what they're doing."

Aku shook her head. "It's called _tonkou_. There are channels between all things through which energy flows. They travel through these. Mostly in earth and air. That's how Shomou can travel between Mei and I so easily and so quickly, and how my shirei can follow you and me out of sight."

"Me too?"

"I assigned some of my shirei to watch over you. Some Kirin can use _tonkou_ as well. With much practice I've learned to do a little bit, but I can't put my whole body through yet, just my arm. I've used it to pick up things from across the room and scare nyosen."

"Huh." Touke thought on that a moment. "You're really not human, are you?"

"Does that bother you?"

"A little," Touke admitted. "Like, when I met you you was this simple-minded little girl. Now you're a Kirin, and you don't understand humans, and you can do these magic things. It's weird."

"Well, there's not a lot I can do about that. I guess you'll get used to it. You're not completely human anymore yourself, you know."

"I guess." Again, Touke fell silent for a while. It was a few minutes of flying before she spoke again. "So, you assigned some youma to me."

"Shirei, yes."

"What's the difference between youma and shirei?" asked Touke, a frown on her voice.

"Shirei are youma that serve a Kirin. There are various ways they're changed by being pacified. It'll take too long to get into them, and I'm pretty sure it would go over your head. It goes over my head sometimes," Aku added, suddenly realizing that could have offended her.

"Oh, okay. So you assigned some to me."

"Yes."

"They have names too."

"Yes. I'll introduce you sometime."

"Okay." Touke didn't say any more, so apparently that was her question.

Not long after that, they were nearing Koukai. Nansou took them through the hidden maze of caverns through the Kongou Mountains, and soon they were flying over Aku's realm. The flight over Koukai was peaceful enough. Apparently Touke knew a little bit about this place, how it was packed with youma, for she clung a little tighter to Aku than before. Again, not complaining. Nansou got tired again, so they came to the ground to take a short rest. Mostly just to make Touke feel better, Aku called out some of her shirei to make a patrol around them. During their stay on the ground, Touke didn't move further than three steps from Aku. Everyone took a short nap, and a few hours later, they took to the sky again. Soon, in the middle of the night, they were soaring over the maze that was Houzan. They picked somewhere in the middle of the inner palace and came down on the ground. The impact was strong enough Touke almost toppled off. Or she could just have been half asleep.

"It's good to be home," Aku said as she hopped off, then turned around to help Touke down. Really, the difference in her mood was only very slight. Any small happiness like that was completely drowned by that she got just by being around Touke.

"Doesn't seem like a bad place," Touke admitted with a look around. There wasn't really much to see, other than the towering maze around them. "At least there aren't youma."

Aku felt herself smiling a little wider. "No, there aren't. Oh look, nyosen."

There were, indeed, three nyosen approaching. Aku wasn't sure how they managed to be everywhere at once, and be aware of everything going on in the palace at all times, but it still didn't surprise her that they had shown up so quickly. "Kyourin," said the one in the lead, one Fuu, she was pretty sure. It was dark. Aku never really saw her much, and almost every time she did it was in close proximity to Renki. She understood Fuu was one of his primary caregivers. "We didn't expect you so quickly."

Just then, Nansou vanished. Touke was revealed to the nearing nyosen. They stopped in their tracks. Their eyes focused on Touke for a while, then turned as one back to Aku. Aku nodded. They glanced at each other for only a second before dropping to the ground. With a flinch, Touke shook her head. "You don't have to do that," she muttered, her voice weak. They kind of did. Besides, Touke would have to get used to this kind of thing, so she just had to adapt to being the master after so long being the servant.

For those first couple seconds the nyosen kept their heads to the ground and said a few obsequious things, to which Touke looked at the sky and awkwardly half-answered. Soon they lamented on how long a trip it must have been, and how tired Kyou-Ou must be, so if she would please follow they would show her somewhere she could rest. "I'll see you tomorrow," Aku said with a smile while the nyosen starting leading the way ahead.

Touke froze. "You're not coming with me? How am I supposed to handle these people by myself?"

"You'll be fine," Aku said, patting her on the shoulder. Then she thought better of it and gave her a tight hug. The very contact gave her a powerful thrill of happiness that almost made her dizzy again. Touke herself hugged her back as though she were the last bastion of humanity in a barren wilderness. "Just remember they're your servants. No problem." Aku pulled away, and gave her as reassuring of a smile as she could before starting off toward her own pagoda.

She noticed with her frequent over-the-shoulder glances that Touke watched her leave for a while before reluctantly turning to follow the nyosen. But Aku was having problems of her own. It seemed every step she took away from Touke, it turned more and more difficult to put one foot in front of the other, and her heart sank further. She pushed them forward as hard as she could, but she barely had the will to resist it. After a short while she realized her trajectory was curving around away from where she was supposed to be going. Before long, she found herself at Touke's side, just about to enter the maze. She blinked in surprise. Suddenly it was perfectly easy to walk, and her mind was soaring as it always did around Touke. Huh.

"I thought you were leaving," Touke muttered to her.

"I tried," she said simply.

"You tried?"

"Yes."

"So I really am stuck with you?"

"Seems like it."

Touke nodded. "Thanks for sticking around. I don't want to be alone here."

At that, Aku could only sigh. At least she put the effort into sounding dejected, or even annoyed, but it was impossible to feel anything but happiness around Touke. She would think after a couple days of this it would be wearing off a little, but it hadn't depleted at all. Only the thought of war had been able to pierce it so far.

It seems the nyosen had already prepared a pagoda for Kyou-Ou, should Aku find her while she was out. It was one of the nicer ones, more ornate and outfitted with the fancier options the nyosen had at their disposal. It was probably nicer than anywhere Touke had ever slept. They even had bedclothes for Touke. For a moment, Aku wondered how the nyosen could have known Kyou-Ou would be female, or could possibly anticipate the proper size, but that was just one mystery of the thousands on Houzan. They were about to start undressing Touke to change her but she immediately, and rather irately, waved them off, saying she could do it herself. The nyosen bowed deeply in apology, then, on their way out of the room, grabbed Aku by both elbows and dragged her out. She resisted for a short while before giving up; the nyosen were much heavier than her. Besides, she was sure she could tolerate being away from Touke for a few minutes.

She spent the whole time pacing back and forth, stopping occasionally to glance in Touke's direction. The nyosen were giving her weird looks, but she didn't care. "It'll get easier," one of them (Aku wasn't paying enough attention to know which.) said, an uncertain smile on her face (but she didn't see it). Aku just grunted absently in response.

After a few minutes, Touke's wavering voice called out for Aku. Without a thought she charged on in. Just seeing Touke lifted her spirit out of the trough she had been in up to great heights. She felt the smile spreading on her face. Touke was giving her an odd look, her eyes frantic. Sure she looked like a simple idiot with the kind of smile that was on her face, but totally uncaring, she walked up until she was within a handbreadth of Touke. She just noticed now that Touke was hugging herself, as though extremely uncomfortable, unwilling to be seen. "I can't wear this," she hissed to Aku, her voice as frantic as her eyes.

Aku couldn't stop smiling. She just couldn't. "Why? What's wrong with them?"

"They're _silk_!" she shouted in her constrained hiss.

"So?"

"I can't wear silk! I can't!" She repeated that phrase a few times, and was soon breathing harder and faster than she really should. Again, Touke was hyperventilating. Aku thought it was strange, that something as simple as clothing was pushing her over that tipping point of anxiety again. But she supposed the trappings of the wealthy had never touched her skin, and giving her future a tactile presence could make it seem more real, or something like that. Aku didn't know. She had been being richly pampered her whole life.

Aku shushed her and took her into a hug. Touke clung back at her, and suddenly burst into tears. Still making her shushing noises, Aku rubbed her back, and willed herself to be as soothing as possible. She wasn't sure she was doing a very good job of it. It took a long time for Touke to quiet some. When she did, Aku pulled away a little, and cupped her cheek with a hand. "I didn't even notice what you're wearing," she said, with her smile so omnipresent this last day or so. She brushed a tear away with a thumb.

Touke let out a short laugh, and nodded. "You'll just have to keep anchoring me to reality."

"I'm a Kirin. I don't think my reality is the same as yours. But it'll do for now."

Touke's eyes glanced over Aku's shoulder. "Um," she whispered, "they're watching us."

"Let them."

"I think we should, um…" Touke pulled the rest of the way away from Aku. It took all the self-control Aku had not to close the distance again.

The nyosen led them—technically they only led Touke, but Aku doggedly followed—to a table where they had set out some water and dried fruit. They said they must be hungry and thirsty from their trip. It had been a while since Aku had eaten or drunk anything. Aku ate and drank a little, but Touke drained the rest of the water and didn't even touch the food. Then they suggested Touke return to the bed and sleep.

Aku was on her way behind her when Fuu caught her by the elbow. "Kyourin, you should go home."

"But…" Aku couldn't take her eyes off of Touke, who was looking over her shoulder at them. "I don't want to leave her," she admitted.

"You can't be with her all the time."

"I know, but…"

"It's okay," Touke said. "She can stay."

"Milord, she really should..."

"I want her to stay," Touke said, her voice suddenly firm.

Well, that gave the nyosen no choice at all. They quickly set up a divan in the room near the bed for Aku to sleep on. A little reluctantly, Aku set herself down there. Soon the nyosen left, exchanging looks on the way out that Aku knew to mean they thought she and her queen were a little off. That was okay, they could think whatever they wanted. She lay down and set about trying to go to sleep. She found it strangely difficult to get comfortable, tossing and turning in place. She heard similar sounds coming from Touke on the bed. She sighed.

After a short while, Touke said, "Aku."

"Yes?"

"You ain't gonna leave me this huge comfy bed all to meself, are you?"

Aku smiled.

* * *

Fuu: 楓優


	13. Chapter Twelve

"Kyourin!" came a hiss, so light Aku wasn't entirely convinced she had heard it.

It was a strange noise, at that. For as long as she could remember, everything had been softness and light, everything swirling about on the currents of insatiable happiness. It was hard to remember the outside world existed. But there was that whisper. It wiggled in the middle of her deliriously happy non-thoughts, calling at her attention. It was a whisper full of things she really didn't want to think about—urgency, fear, anger. Bad things. She just wanted to float in her warmth and happiness forever.

"Kyourin!"

With a sigh, Kyourin opened her eyes. To her astonishment, the whisperer, right there at the side of the bed, was Kashou. It was hard to tell exactly what the expression on her face could mean. It was conflicted, much like the whisper had been. But it was very clear she didn't think Aku should be sleeping there, half on top of Touke like she so enjoyed. Aku just blinked at her, frowning slightly.

"What are you doing?" Kashou said in her hiss as light as the wind. "Get away from there this instant!"

_No_, Aku mouthed.

"Kyourin—" A low grunt came from Touke, from Kyou-Ou. Laying on Touke's chest, Aku could feel it more distinctly than she heard it. Kashou's face paled. Maybe she was worried what Kyou-Ou would do should Kashou have woken her up, or possibly what she would do when she saw and felt Aku. Aku suspected Kashou thought she was there without permission, that she had crawled into bed with her master all on her own. It was pretty well-known among the nyosen that she hated sleeping alone. Apparently that wasn't all that uncommon for Kirin, raised as they were by touchy-feely nyokai; some even slept in piles of shirei like Aku used to, and still sometimes did. Half-awake, Touke did move a little: she shifted in place slightly, turned her head. Then her arm came up over Aku's shoulders and hugged her closer to the owner. Aku kept her brilliant smile aimed at Kashou.

Kashou, with her own frown, turned and left the room. Aku was left to her happiness for a few more minutes.

Before long, Touke let out another grunt, and followed that with a long yawn. When Aku turned her head to look up it was to find Touke blearily watching her. "Hey, there," she muttered with a sleepy voice.

Aku was pretty sure her smile couldn't get wider. "Hi."

They lay in silence for a few seconds, watching each other. Then Touke said, "Hey, when should we getting up?"

"Someone should come for us soon."

"Right." Another pause. "Shouldn't you be, um…" Touke gestured to the divan with her eyes.

Aku considered for a moment. A very short moment. "Are you ordering me to?"

"No." Touke seemed almost disgusted by the thought.

"Then, no." Aku hugged tighter into Touke, burying her face in her neck. "I'm not leaving until I have to," she mumbled directly into her skin. Touke let out a low laugh. She was perfectly happy there for some time. Then she started thinking about how warm Touke was against her, how smooth her neck is. Her thoughts wandered, and before long her body started reacting in ways she had recently grown to recognize. She was gripped by an impulse she could not control. She pulled back a little, then forward again, kissing Touke's neck. A few more times. She opened her mouth enough for her tongue to touch skin and nearly shuddered. Touke always tasted good. She was soon debating whether to travel up to Touke's mouth or down under her clothes.

"No," Touke said. "Stop." Her soft voice sounded somewhat strained, more than a little reluctant, but it was very clear.

So Aku had no choice, no matter how much she wanted to continue. "Why?" she asked after a moment. Did Touke not like her like that anymore? Just the possibility made her—no, actually she barely noticed at all. Even shut down like this Touke made her too happy. The problem was, she wanted to make Touke happy too, and she wasn't sure Aku had the same effect on Touke she did on her. She was closer to sure she didn't. And sex made people happy, so why not?

"We'll get caught."

It was the first time she'd heard it. It wouldn't be the last.

It didn't take much longer for more people to show up. A group of nyosen came in, heads bowed low, saying it was morning, and if Kyou-Ou wished it they could prepare her breakfast. Aku immediately perked up and asked if she could bring Touke along to their breakfast. The nyosen considered that for a moment, glancing between each other, and either because of Aku's exuberance or Touke's slight interest decided to go along with it. First though, it was time to get Kyou-Ou dressed. The nyosen told Kyourin to go home and change while Touke was getting dressed herself. Aku hesitated a long moment. Eventually Touke told her to go, that she could do without her for five minutes.

Aku ran there and back as fast as she could. When she came back she was a little out of breath, but it was worth it to see Touke even a little sooner. Even a Touke that looked incredibly uncomfortable. She wasn't used to nice clothes.

Soon they were eating breakfast with the other Kirin. When they walked in the room and saw Enrin sitting there and Renki just running in, Touke almost dropped to her knees; Aku caught her by the elbow. "You're Kyou-Ou," Aku hissed to her. "You bow to no one but the Gods." Touke nodded at the words and took a shuddering breath.

Enrin was polite enough to pretend she hadn't noticed Touke's slip. She was halfway through introducing herself when Renki was suddenly between the two women, hopping up and down a little. Aku remembered being Renki's age. She knew she had been equally intolerable. She could only hope she had been half as adorable. The precious ball of golden energy fired off a litany of questions too quickly for Touke to answer then gave a deep nod as though satisfied and ran off to tug at Fuu's skirts. Touke took the cue from Enrin and Kyourin to ignore this. The introductions were finished. It was pretty funny watching Enrin and Touke. They were both polite and awkward, as though not sure how to treat the other or how to hold themselves in the other's presence. Aku had to withstrain the urge to laugh out loud.

Breakfast was little different than it usually was. Aku tried to get Enrin to talk more, while Enrin stayed her reserved self. Renki blathered on about everything and nothing at all. The three of them tried to include Touke too, but she mostly just stared blankly at her food, and when looking up just stared blankly at the Kirin. Apparently a few days around Aku wasn't enough to get her used to the idea of being around Kirin. And she probably wasn't the most Kirinly of Kirin either.

They pretty much sat around and did nothing for a while after eating. Renki ran off to Koukai. When Aku had said that's where he was going, Touke's face had gone white, and she had yelled something about them having to go after him. The two of them had had to remind the human that they were Kirin, and running around in Koukai was hardly that troublesome for them, even that young. Aku launched into the story of how she had pacified Nansou, when she had been about Renki's age. That story didn't seem to reassure her much.

For a few hours, the three of them talked. Well, Aku did most of the talking, while Touke and Enrin mostly stared off into the distance. They were very similar when they were uncomfortable. A couple times, Enrin attempted to ask Touke a question. That would widen Aku's smile. Touke would just give a half answer of a deflection, and return to staring at nothing. Aku's smile would narrow a little. It seemed Touke wasn't destined to get along with any of the other Kirin.

They had lunch in a meadow, and by this time Aku's spirits were sinking about as low as they could get with Touke around. This was such a disaster. She had hoped that Touke would have fun at her home, that she would like her fellow Kirin, the nyosen, the people she had grown up with. It didn't seem to be turning out that way. She was sure that were their roles reversed Aku would be ecstatic. She sighed. Then she had a thought that hadn't really occurred to her before. "Hey, Touke," she said, "do you have family around? We can bring them up to the palace when things settle down."

Touke, food halfway to her mouth, gave her a look. "Not anymore. They all died a long time ago."

"Oh, right. Touke was a sennin for a while," Aku said to Enrin.

"No, before that. My older brother got sick and died. My dad died in the army. My mom died working in the fields during a heatwave. All this happened when I was young. I was raised in a rike."

Aku stared at Touke. She was sure there was a look of shock and horror on her face. She should have expected Touke's family was dead, what with how old she was. But she never would have expected something that terrible. It occurred to her she knew almost nothing about Touke, what she had experienced, what her life had been like. Her passions, her beliefs. They had only known each other for a couple days. They were practical strangers. The thought actually made her a little sad, even through the happiness she was always floating in since she had found Touke. "I'm sorry." A glance at Enrin revealed a similarly sympathetic expression.

"It's okay," Touke said with a wave of her hand. "Happened a long time ago." Aku didn't think, no matter how long ago it was, something that horrible could be okay. "These sort of things happen all the time," she added to their depressed expressions.

"It doesn't make it any less sad each time it happens," Aku insisted.

"I guess not."

Enrin recited, "_To become complacent to tragedy is to lose the Way_."

Aku finished, "_Indeed, each tragedy should only multiply our distress_."

"What's that from?"

"A philosophy treatise by Hanki."

"The current Hanki?"

"No, a long time ago."

"Hmm." Touke paused for only a moment. "This is why you guys not having names is really confusing. It's impossible to know who you're talking about."

"If I said he was the twenty seventh Han Taiho would that clear it up at all?"

"Not really."

"So why does it matter?"

"I guess it doesn't. But I still think you should have names."

"I do have a name," Aku said with a wider smile. She rather liked her name.

"You do? I thought Aku was just something you told me to hide who you were."

Aku thought for a moment. "Well, that's why I originally picked it. But that was back when I was eight. I really do feel like it's my name now. I only think of myself as Kyourin when I'm doing official Kirin business. Otherwise, I'm Aku."

"Okay then. Then Enrin should have a name."

Enrin blinked at her for a moment. "I am En."

"What?"

"I am my kingdom. I have no need for a name. If my king should give me one, or maybe if his subjects should do the same, then I will wear it. But at the core, I am still En. I'm sure the same is true of Kyourin."

Aku shrugged. "I guess. Inside I am Kyou, and Aku is a role I play on the outside. At least that's what it feels like sometimes."

"You Kirin are weird. I don't mean to be disrespectful," Touke added immediately.

"It's okay. We're not mad. At least I'm not. You know Enrin; she's a very angry creature." Enrin didn't respond to that at all. Boring.

After lunch they were separated. Aku protested very strongly, saying they would have to drag her away again. Then they said Sekto was waiting for her with their usual board game all set up. Now Aku was conflicted. It would likely be the last time she would be able to see Sekto for a very long time, if not ever, but Touke. Seeing her indecision, Touke ordered without ordering that Aku go. Apparently Gyokuyou wanted to speak with her one on one anyway. Aku still found it very difficult to walk away, and even with the thought of her final few games with Sekto her feet dragged heavily against the ground.

By some miracle, she made it. Sekto was indeed sitting at the table waiting for her. She smiled as Aku approached, though Aku thought the expression seemed a little more forced than normal. "Good afternoon, Aku." Sekto was one of the few nyosen who called her Aku. "Have a seat."

Aku's spirits managed to lift a little. Being separated from Touke wasn't pleasant, but if she were with Sekto it couldn't be so bad. "Hi." She placed a stone immediately after sitting, starting their game.

After a short while playing, Sekto said, "So, you found your queen."

Aku smiled even at the mention of Touke. "Yes, I did."

"So what kind of person is she?"

Aku realized after a moment of thought, again, that she barely knew Touke, not really enough to answer the question. So she went through quick what she knew about Touke's history.

"That's what she did, what happened to her. I want to know who she is."

Aku's smile faltered. "Well, I don't really know, do I? We only met a few days ago."

"What do your instincts tell you?" asked Sekto, with the slight smile on her face that Aku always took to mean she was being silly.

"Well. She's humble."

"A humble queen."

"Yes. She's been nothing but nice to me. She's so nice to me the thought of ordering me to do something seems to disgust her."

Now Sekto was frowning. "That's not good."

"Why not?"

"If she can't even order you to do anything, how can she possibly run a kingdom?"

A need to defend Touke immediately rose in her chest. "She practically ordered me to come see you." It was the only thing she could think of to say.

"Possibly, but you wanted to anyway."

"Well, yes," Aku admitted.

"Would she be able to order you to do something you didn't want to?"

Aku grumbled, "I'm sure she could."

"Hmm." They played a few turns before Sekto spoke again. "They say she shared her bed with you."

Aku found herself smiling again. "Yes. Two times now, since we've met."

"You really shouldn't be sleeping with her. You won't be able to at the palace."

"Why not?"

Sekto gave her a funny look, like that should be obvious. There were probably a few reasons she could use, but the one she said was, "What would the people think? You know the servants would see you."

"But…" She couldn't get the words out. She didn't know how to translate what she was feeling. It was like there was a vise in her, squeezing her chest so tightly her heart couldn't beat. Her head started to hurt as well, though more as a stinging. The vise worked up to her throat as the seconds passed. The only coherent thought she could make was that after leaving Houzan she would never be able to sleep with Touke again. There wasn't room for anything else.

When Aku didn't place a stone for a while, Sekto looked back up at her. She immediately looked stricken; Aku supposed her expression must look as crushed as she felt. "I'm sorry, Kyourin." Kyourin. Not Aku. "I didn't mean to make you sad. It's just, there are certain realities you have to remember, and one of those is the proper relationship between a Kirin and her master."

"But I just found her." Aku's vision started blurring, and she knew, as the tightness in her throat had suggested, she was about to cry. She hated crying, but she couldn't stop herself. It was like a great pressure bearing down on her, that something she loved so much was going to be taken from her so soon, and there seemed to be only one way for the pressure to release itself.

"Oh, Kyourin." Sekto stood up and came around the table, and soon had Aku in her arms. As soon as Aku found herself in the warmth of Sekto's embrace she lost what little control she had and suddenly burst into loud sobs. She unconsciously clenched and unclenched fistfulls of Sekto's robes as she cried into her chest. It had been so long since she had cried she had almost forgotten what it felt like. This wasn't pleasant. Her throat hurt, her chest hurt. Before long her face felt hot and she felt like she was getting a headache. She hadn't missed crying. "I'm sorry, my little Kirin."

Eventually she settled down enough to talk. Her voice was still wavery and hoarse. "I won't be able to sleep with Kasshi either, will I?"

"No, probably not."

"Or my shirei."

"I'm sorry."

Aku started crying heavily again.

It took a long time for Aku to settle down. Eventually Sekto wiped Aku's face off on her clothes—Aku said she was going to get them dirty, but Sekto argued there was nothing dirty about a Kirin, and it would wash out—and she returned to her seat. They resumed their game. After a while playing, Sekto said, a little cautiously, "You know why, don't you?"

"It's because I'm a Kirin," Aku grumbled.

"Yes. People are going to be worried—we are already worried—that Kyou-Ou is taking or is going to take advantage of you. That's not an impression you want to give people. It wouldn't be good for you or your master."

"Yes, I understand. It's not fair."

Sekto let out a nostalgic smile. "Many things aren't. I know you know, somewhere in that head of yours, that you two sharing a bed is a bad idea. That's something family and lovers do, and since you are neither, since you are master and servant, it just isn't appropriate."

"Well…" Aku hesitated. Did she really want to tell Sekto about that?

It turned out she didn't really have to. "Well, what?" asked Sekto, frowning at her a little. Then her eyes widened. After a short moment staring, her face fell into her hands. "Aku…"

"Yes?" she said, trying to sound innocent. It probably just come out reproachful. She didn't want to be ashamed, but Sekto's tone cut deep into her. This conversation would be easier if she didn't respect Sekto so much.

"I can't believe you did that. No, it didn't happen. I refuse to believe it."

"It happened. You don't have to believe it, but it happened."

Sekto, her face still in her hands, let out a long, strained groan. "I think this is the worst thing you've ever done."

There it was again, that razor straight into Aku's heart, deep enough to make it hard to breathe. Her eyes were tearing up again. She hadn't expected losing Sekto's approval to hurt so much. Sekto hadn't reacted like this to that thing with Mei. While this was different than that, it was different in a good way. She could sort of understand that what she had done was wrong, but it was the sort of understanding she got from reading something and not really absorbing it, so distant from what she had felt and still felt. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it."

"How do you not help that? I understand Kirin are attached to their lords, but still…"

"It's not surprising, considering my revelation." Sekto looked up at her, a confused expression on her face. So she explained. "My revelation came as sexual attraction. Very, very intense. It made me dizzy. It's almost like Tentei told me to."

A look of distaste with that theory crossed Sekto's face before vanishing again. "And you're sure it's her?"

"I wasn't at first, but I am now."

Sekto considered that a moment. "It's okay, don't cry again." With a long sigh, Sekto straightened herself, staring Aku down. "Never again. You had your fun once, but you can never, ever do it again. You might get caught. There's no telling what will happen if you get caught."

"I understand."

They returned to their game, played a few moves in silence. Before long the pain and water in her eyes receded. After a few more moves, Sekto said, "You know, my indignation probably isn't completely righteous."

"No?" said Aku with a frown.

"I kind of hoped I'd always be your favorite."

Aku smiled. They played for a while. She and Aku of late have been more or less evenly matched in this game, the victor alternating from match to match. Aku suspected Sekto was playing at her full capacity now, but still could hardly beat Aku. It had taken many years to catch up, but she had, just before it was time for her to leave. She looked up to Sekto and saw a strangely serious expression there. Sekto was usually pretty serious, but this expression made her freeze. "Sekto?" she muttered after a moment.

"Yes, Aku."

"You're sad."

Sekto froze herself, and after a short moment looked up to meet Aku's eyes. "Yes, Aku, I am."

"I'd really rather you weren't. I don't like seeing you sad."

"There's really no helping it," Sekto said, gesturing back at the game with her eyes.

Aku didn't feel like it. She didn't like seeing Sekto said, and she wanted to address it before continuing with their game. It would bother her too much to play. "Is it because of me?" she asked after a moment of thought.

Again Sekto glanced up, pain heavily shadowed in her eyes. "You know, Souki was the first Kirin whose care I was directly involved in."

"The current Souki?"

Sekto nodded. "One day he chose his queen and he left. And the day he left I cried." Aku blinked in surprise; Sekto was so strong and immovable it was hard to imagine her crying. "Yes, I did. It's very hard seeing someone you're that close to go. Even nyosen are not immune to such emotion. I'm told it gets easier the more Kirin you send off."

"Does it?"

"I wouldn't really know," Sekto said with a shrug. "They removed me from intimate contact with each Kirin after that. They wanted me to adapt to being a nyosen for a while, to get more used to the idea. I wasn't supposed to get this close to you, either. We didn't expect you to enjoy these games this much."

"Oh." Aku considered that a moment as a few turns slowly passed. They weren't thinking about their moves so much than thinking about how they were soon to be separated. "I don't want you to cry for me. I don't like that I can hurt you like this."

"There are different sorts of pain. As far as pain goes, pain out of love isn't so bad."

"I guess. I still don't want you to cry for me. I'm happier than I've ever been."

"And that's saying something," Sekto said with a thin smile. "I'll just have to adapt to you not being here. It will be difficult, but I can handle myself."

Aku thought through a few more turns. She supposed there was really no way to make Sekto feel better about her leaving, at least nothing that was within her power. Sentiments were hard things to fool. Now that she was separated a short distance from Touke, so the bliss of her presence wasn't interfering, she found she was a little depressed herself. This had been her home, and she was leaving. She had played this game with Sekto every day since she was seven, save for a few missed days every once in a while, and she never would again. She wouldn't see the inner palace, with its beautiful gardens, running streams, artfully designed pagodas, rugged walls of rock. She would never see any of the caring, gentle, intelligent nyosen. Kashou would never chastise her again. The thoughts almost made her cry some more. "I'm not exactly pleased with this myself."

"I thought you were happy."

"When Touke is gone, I'm discovering just now, reality returns."

"Her effect on you is that great?"

Aku decided to try her hand at describing it for her. She didn't expect to do very well. "When she's around, it's like there's nothing else but her and how I feel. And how I feel," she said with a little sigh. "It's like swimming in happiness. Like everything is perfect, and forever will be. And she's the most beautiful person I've ever met. The way she moves, the way she talks, the way she _breathes_. It burns in me. I want to touch her, I want to make her feel good, make her happy. I feel that if she be happy everything will be okay. I'm not describing this very well."

"I think I understand." Sekto let a short silence pass while she considered her move. "So. Happiness and sex."

"Happiness and sex," Aku confirmed.

"Strange. But you still can't do it again."

Aku sighed. "Yeah, I know." They played a couple turns in silence before Aku spoke again. "It is both a blessing and a curse."

"What is?"

"That the signs aligned so soon. On the one hand, Touke and I will be able to get to Kyou that much quicker. On the other, we have less time to say goodbye."

Sekto pulled on a rather wry smile. "It doesn't matter how long we have. Goodbyes are just as painful drawn out as sudden."

Aku guessed she might have a point.

When they were done with their games, Aku stood to make her way back to Touke's pagoda. Sekto stopped her, and explained that she wasn't going to be there when Aku ascended the mountain. She said she would probably cry. She didn't want to put that kind of damper on the occasion. So they said a very brief goodbye. They said they would miss each other, then they hugged.

And Aku left.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Kyourin looked out over Unkai.

The ceremony at the bottom of the mountain had been a little short, shorter than she had expected. Everyone had been wearing black—including Kyourin and Touke—and had somber expressions on their faces—not including Aku. There had been some talking, obsequious stuff that kind of got on Aku's nerves. It was strange seeing the nyosen so reserved and polite like that, after she had been raised by them so cheerfully and so casually. It was like they weren't even being themselves. Even Kashou had been being exceedingly deferential to the both of them. The incongruity of it bothered her. At least Sekto, as she had said, hadn't been there.

Then they had ascended the crystal staircase, having the Mandate burned into their minds with each step. Kyourin had already memorized the whole thing anyway, but then, most Kirin did. At least now she would never forget it, she guessed.

The sky surprised Aku. She directed a dazed Touke to the shrine before taking a moment to think about it. It was common knowledge that there was a sea in the sky, above which they currently were, and that the water gave the sky its blue color. She wasn't exactly sure what color she had expected the sky to be above the clouds. But it certainly wasn't blue. She wondered at that for a few moments. Did that mean there was another Unkai above this Unkai? Did that mean it rained above the clouds as well? She hadn't heard explicitly if it did or not, to her recollection. This was weird. She was tempted to fly up and try to reach the second Unkai. Was it even possible to fly up to the first Unkai in the same manner? She wasn't sure. This whole situation was dazzling her.

So then she walked around the peak of Houzan, looking in all directions. Water, to the horizon. To the west there were other mountains sticking out of Unkai, the other four in Koukai. They looked pretty far away, as she knew them to be, but without landmarks it was hard to tell for sure. One of the mountains, she saw, stretched even further up than the others. That, she supposed, would be Suukou. It stretched high enough, she thought, there really may be another Unkai, and above that the Heavens. It took only a slight stretch of her imagination to think so.

But that didn't hold most of her attention. She looked in each of the eight directions, thinking to herself what kingdoms were there, what the state of affairs was inside. She knew a little bit, but not a lot. In the end she focused toward the northwest, toward Kyou. In that direction, on the edge of the mountain, was the Genbu, looking nothing but a great turtle, so large it couldn't be anything but a Shinjuu sent by Heaven. But she wasn't really looking at the Genbu. She was looking beyond it toward Kyou. Things weren't going so well there, she knew. The land was a disaster zone. War was coming. This was the moment of truth, their arrival in the palace. They could be received well, and everything would be okay, the war prevented. Or, as Mei suspected, the armies of the Chousai would fly out to slaughter them.

Kyourin shuddered.

It wasn't that she feared for her life. At least not directly. Her life only mattered for the sake of Kyou. If she died, Kyou would have to wait for the Kyouka to ripen, and for a new Kirin to grow. It would be wasted years Kyou really couldn't afford. But it wasn't really that. Besides, there was Plan B. It was that the very thought of violence made her extremely uncomfortable, shaking in disgust and fear. She wanted to take her Queen on her back and fly in the opposite direction, but that wasn't really an option. There would be blood, no matter what she did. She couldn't help it. All she could do was keep Touke alive, and stay out of smelling distance.

Kyou was suffering. And unless tomorrow went well, they would continue to suffer. Kyourin hated that it was mostly out of her hands.

"What do we do next?" Touke was standing next to her, looking very uncomfortable. She seemed less dazed than before, though, and Kyourin suspected that giving her time to pray and make her oaths had settled her mind a little bit. She wondered if the discomfort was because of the clothes. Sure, the people on Houzan dressed very richly, as far as materials went, but the style of the clothes themselves were actually rather simple. She would have to get used to much more than simply this.

Aku smiled, and, grabbing her by the hand, started walking toward the Genbu. "We go to Soufuu palace, of course."

"On that thing?" muttered Touke, trailing along behind her. She didn't have a lot of choice in following—Aku had her hand.

"Show some respect. That's a Genbu. It's a Shinjuu, sent by the Heavens."

"Like you."

"Exactly like me. You could say we're cousins." They were nearing the Genbu now. It had extended it's neck out toward the mountain, so they could more easily step onto it's nose, onto its head, down its neck, and onto its back, where a pagoda was waiting. On the way, Kyourin stopped in front of one of its eyes, and bowed her head. The Genbu blinked its enormous eyes at her. She led Touke to the nose and they climbed on.

The ride was very calm. There was almost no sensation of movement at all, as absent of landmarks Unkai was. No matter how far the capital, Genbu always brought its passengers to their new home the next morning. This meant they were moving pretty fast, but on the flat ocean terrain there was no way to know. Aku used a good portion of the time teaching Touke to read. She was delighted to find writing materials sitting around; Heaven clearly knew their situation. She taught Touke the basics—how to hold the brush, the basic rules of how to draw the characters, how the characters were mostly formed by combinations of simpler characters, and what an assortment of these simpler characters were and what they meant. Touke noticed herself that the first character in her name had "fire" in it. By the time Touke complained that her head couldn't absorb any more, night was falling.

Touke tracked down the bed. She shed the top few layers of her clothes and started crawling in. Aku did much the same thing. When she was just getting on, Touke gave her a look, and said, "What are you doing?"

Aku froze, looking at her. She wondered if she was about to be ordered away. "Sleeping with you, of course."

"You shouldn't. When we get to the palace you won't be able to."

"I know, but I have one more day, and I want to take it."

Touke sighed. "Just go to your own bed."

"Where?"

Now she frowned. "What?"

Aku couldn't help but smiling. "This is the only bed in the pagoda. Heaven knows, you see. Heaven always knows."

"I can't believe Tentei would approve, if He knew."

There wasn't really anything Aku could say that would convince her, so she just smiled.

"Fine. One last night."

Soon, they were in the positions Aku so loved, Touke on her back and Aku laying half on top of her. Her happiness even with something so simple was so intense she wondered if she'd be able to fall asleep. It took her laying there a few minutes for her to decide she didn't want to go to sleep yet. She ran her hand along Touke's side, feeling the slight tightening of the muscles beneath. In a repeat of what she had done the morning before, Aku slid her head up and kissed Touke's neck. Again and again.

"Aku," came Touke's voice after a short while. Aku could feel it against her lips. "What are you doing?"

Aku pulled back enough to see Touke's face. She was looking down at her with a somewhat exasperated expression. Aku just smiled. "One last night."

Touke seemed to consider that for a moment. She lifted a hand and stroked Aku's mane, running her fingers between the hairs. The movement tickled Aku's scalp. For another moment she just watched her with her beautiful blue eyes. Then she said, "Okay."

* * *

Touke stared out at the horizon, her vision slightly blurry. Aku's youma—shirei, whatever—had woken them up early and, considering how late they had stayed up, she didn't feel she had gotten enough sleep. They had come out to the head of the big turtle, staring in the direction the capital would soon appear. The sun rose behind them. It wasn't long afterward that an island appeared in the distance. Or more properly, Touke knew, islands. They neared frighteningly quickly. Touke wasn't sure how to feel about that. On those islands awaited her responsibilities as Queen, and frankly the whole thing terrified her. She felt that fear start to work in her. She did her best to remain standing, and resisted the need to throw up as the islands approached.

Then she remembered something. "Wait a minute."

"Yes?" The strange Kirin looked about as terrible as Touke felt.

"Isn't the Chousai a bad guy?"

A thin, wavering smile touched Aku's face. "Yes, I suppose he is a bad guy."

"And the Chousai lives in Soufuu."

"Yes."

"So…" Touke broke off, unsure if she should be asking the question. She was probably going to sound like an idiot again. "Why are we going to Soufuu?"

"We have to give the Chousai an opportunity to reform himself, to step back onto the Way."

Touke considered that for a moment. "No, I think we should just go straight to that Marquis's place. Where is that, Teki Province? How do we steer this thing?"

"Do you even know which way Teki is?"

"No, I was hoping the—what was it called?—Genbu would."

"Ah, I see." Before them, Soufuu Palace was growing ever larger. They were nearly close enough that they could start distinguishing individual islands, and individual buildings on those islands. "Tell me, do you wish to flee the armies of the Chousai or your duty as Queen?"

"Both," Touke said without thought.

A short laugh came from Aku, but her expression was anything but amused. She looked terrified herself. It occurred to Touke that Kirin didn't like violence. Exactly how serious was their aversion to bloodshed? She really didn't know. Or was she just nervous herself? "Don't worry. Plan B."

"What exactly is Plan B?"

"I think you're about to find out. Look."

Touke followed Aku's pointed finger with her gaze. From Soufuu Palace, black specks were rising into the air. They were too far away to see what they were, but they could only be one thing. Even as they watched, the Genbu rapidly approached, and some of them started taking on indistinct forms. "Oh, shit."

"I think that's hostile enough for our purposes. Nansou." At Aku's word, that big monster of a youma sprung out from nowhere. Touke felt a shuddering jolt of surprise fly through her, almost taking her into the air. She would never get used to that. Aku leapt onto the monster's back and held a hand down to Touke. "Plan B," she said simply.

"Grab a mount and run. I like it." Touke took her hand, and climbed onto the youma behind her. Almost before she got to the top, the youma sprung into the air. Against the jolt of leaving the ground, Touke grabbed at Aku. She always felt she was going to fall off when it did that. Again, after so short a time, she was flying on a youma's back with her arms around a Kirin, this time fleeing a force on kijuu out to stop her from taking the throne.

How her life had changed this last week.

Looking over Aku's shoulder, she saw Soufuu turn around to her right. But now the kijuu were near enough to be solid shapes, and were probably starting to get close enough to start throwing spears. She hoped this youma was fast. They had gotten to Houzan quicker than she had thought possible, so it probably was. There was no sign of movement as the youma ran through the air. The wind didn't blow, the waves lapped beneath them with no solid form. It was like they weren't really moving at all. It'd be easy to get lost up here.

She suspected they weren't moving in a straight line. It was hard to tell for sure, but she thought the youma might be putting them through a random, jittering sort of slalom. For a moment she was wondering why they didn't just run straight when a spear suddenly shot by them. She jumped in place, her eyes wide. Those assholes really were trying to kill them. Then another spear went by. Three more. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in Aku's clothes. She hated having spears thrown at her like this. She felt so helpless, unable to strike back, like a fly being slapped at. It was a bubbling frustration in her chest, and she hated it. She would give anything just to have a spear to throw back at them. Or a good bow to fire arrows back. She was a decent shot, not great, but it would be something.

"Suugu," came the youma's grumbling voice.

Aku let out a curse Touke never would have thought would leave a Kirin's lips. "Plan C."

"What's Plan C?" shouted Touke. She wasn't sure why she was shouting—there was no wind to work against. The stress of the moment just made her feel like shouting.

Without a word, Aku grabbed Touke's wrists, forced her fists open, and moved them up around her neck. All awhile, the youma dodged weapons raining down on them. The frequency seemed to be increasing. "Whatever happens," Aku said, severity in her voice, "don't let go."

"Right, don't let go."

"Okay, hold on tight. Nansou, now." And suddenly, without a sound, the youma was gone.

When Touke said it was without a sound, she meant the vanishing itself happened without a sound. Because with the sudden absence of the magic barrier or whatever youjuu and youma put up, the wind came as a sudden roar that completely deafened her. She felt the shout of surprise and panic exit her throat, but she barely heard it. They started falling toward Unkai below. The youma had brought them high, clearly trying to get above the opposing force, where it would be harder for them to aim, so they had quite a ways to fall. Even with the surging panic rising in her chest and throat, she remembered what Aku had said. She tightened her arms around Aku's neck, clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut.

Because her eyes were shut, she didn't see it happening. She felt Aku's form against her shrink, as though she was changing shape, and a sudden warmth against her skin. Then Aku grew again. Or at least she assumed that's what was happening, because her arms were suddenly only partially wrapped around something much wider than Aku's neck. And her downward ascent slowed as something soft pushed at her from below. She felt like she was sitting on the youma again, except what she was riding now was narrower.

Shock registered as she realized what was happening.

But of course. Nothing was as fast as a Kirin running on the wind. Everybody knew that.

Cautiously, she loosened her arms a little and opened her eyes. Directly in her face was a thin streak of long hairs of deepest red. They fluttered slightly in the absent breeze, light and nearly transparent. It looked a lot like Aku's hair normally was. Maybe a little thinner. It was partially obscured by Aku's clothes, so she slid them out from under her and tossed them away. She looked around her. She couldn't get a great impression of shape from where she was, but she did notice that Aku—no, Kyourin—was now covered in light red fur, which scintillated in the sun, throwing off rainbow fractals as it shifted. She looked over her shoulder and saw they were quickly leaving the pursuing armies behind.

"Did you just toss my clothes?"

Touke jumped at the voice, nearly losing her grip she maintained with her legs. She hadn't expected Kyourin to be able to talk like this. Her voice was slightly different, but it was still obviously hers. "Um, yes. Was that bad?"

"Would you like me to greet the Marquis naked?"

The only thing that kept Touke from becoming completely ashamed at her thoughtlessness was the gentle humor on Kyourin's voice. "Um, no. I guess not."

"It's okay. I told her to have clothes on hand."

"So you're just teasing me."

"Yes, of course."

Touke grumbled to herself. After a minute longer flying, the enormity of what she was doing slowly dawned on her. She was riding a Kirin. The holiest creatures in the world, representatives of the will of Tentei Himself. She felt herself shudder a little. She was so awestruck she could barely think. "You really are a Kirin, aren't you?" she muttered to herself.

"Of course I am. You had doubts?"

"I shouldn't be riding you like this."

"It's fine. It was my idea, remember? Although you are pretty heavy."

"What?"

"I'm not used to carrying people. The only person I've had on my back before was a Kirin, and we're pretty light. That and he's a child. This is a pretty long distance, too."

Touke realized what she was saying and a spark of anxiety flared to life in her. "Will we be okay?"

"I should be able to make it."

"Should?"

"Yes, should."

That wasn't exactly the most confidence-inspiring thing she could have said. If they plunged into Unkai they were as good as dead. Touke found herself wishing she was smaller. Another thought occurred to her. "Do you know where you're going?"

"I've memorized everything there is to know about Kyou," she said. There was no pride in her voice. "And I knew I would fly over it someday."

"Well, yes, but there's nothing up here. How do you know where you're going?"

"Look down."

Touke looked over her side to look straight down into Unkai. The water was surprisingly clear. She had been looking at it from such shallow angles she hadn't noticed before. Below, forest was visible. She made out a few shapes of burned-out villages, fallow fields. The hills made discernable shapes, and she caught the curves of a few short mountains. "Okay, that makes sense. I guess."

"Don't worry, I'll get us there."

"Should."

"Yes, should."

The flight was pretty uneventful. Touke found herself watching the wastelands of Kyou drag by beneath them. They really were going pretty fast, as far as she could tell. She tried very hard not to move around too much, or make too hard of a profile against Kyourin. She didn't want to hurt her, nor distract her. As the hours stretched by, she found she was pretty bored. She didn't think it would be possible, to be bored on the back of a Kirin. But she managed it.

After some hours, suddenly she started feeling a light breeze. Perhaps it had started a while ago, slowly building, but she didn't notice it until then. "Is something wrong?"

"What?"

"I feel wind all of a sudden."

Kyourin's reply was long in coming. "Don't worry about it. I'm just tired."

"I'm sorry," Touke muttered.

"Why?"

"I'm so heavy."

"You're fine." Touke noticed Kyourin's voice was getting more brusque as she spoke. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to focus on not letting us die." Even when she was annoyed, her voice wasn't without the gentleness Touke had come to expect from Aku/Kyourin, as though even frustrated and furious, she wouldn't be able to harm a fly. Which was probably true, she realized.

"Right, sorry."

"Don't apologize."

Touke shut her mouth, resisting her impulse to continue the conversation. She usually didn't talk much, but now that she would be distracting someone she was suddenly chatty. She must just be bored. An hour or so later—it was hard to be sure—the sun had dropped far from its zenith, and Touke was starting to feel hungry as well as bored.

It was then that a blot appeared on the horizon. That had to be the palace. It approached, but slowly. Either it was very far away in this featureless landscape or else—Touke suspected—Kyourin was getting so tired she had slowed. As it approached, Touke got a better impression of it's structure. She hadn't been paying attention to Soufuu, as distracted as she had been, but this one she noticed. The peak of the mountain jutted sharply out of the water, hard rock amongst soft water. The area was pretty flat before them, with a few cliffs westward that rose above the rest. The buildings scattered across the flattened area came in all shapes and sizes, though most of them had blue roofs. She was pretty sure this one, though, was considerably smaller than Soufuu. That was the vague impression she got, anyway.

As it neared, she noticed it wasn't nearing uniformly. It was just in front of them for a while, then it would drift to the side, before turning back in front of them. Touke realized Kyourin was getting so tired she was having trouble flying straight. It least, it appeared, they were going to make it to safety in one piece.

Kyourin descended to the palace in a stuttering, meandering path. She seemed to be heading for a balcony just on the edge of water, made in glimmering white stone. Touke noticed there were people waiting there. They grew ever closer. Finally, Kyourin barely passed over the handrail, and her hooves clattered to the stone. It was only as she stopped that she noticed the Kirin's breathing—quick and labored.

Touke immediately sprung off Kyourin's back, getting her weight off the exhausted Kirin as quickly as possible. When she turned back to look at her, she saw that Kyourin—looking nothing but a strange combination of deer and horse in red and rainbow colors—certainly did appear exhausted, on the verge of collapse. Touke turned to the assembled people, about a dozen and a half, arrayed around them, prostrated to the ground. "Someone stand up and get me clothes."

"And water," Kyourin added.

Someone crawled forward on his knees toward them, head bowed to the ground, holding up a bundle of clothes. As Touke reached for them, he said, "We have a banquet waiting for Your Highness and the Taiho inside."

"Water now," Kyourin said. Someone stood, bowed deeply, and ran off.

"Everyone keep your heads down," Touke said to the gathered. She turned to Kyourin. "Whenever you're ready."

Kyourin didn't wait another moment. Her form contorted, taking a weird ball shape neither Kirin nor human, glowing with a pale golden light. Then suddenly Aku was standing there. Immediately her knees buckled. She nearly fell against the hard stone, and would have if Touke hadn't caught her. Touke helped Aku into her clothes. They were simple robes, easy to put on. The Marquis had apparently anticipated the need. Soon she had Aku, sweating heavily and shaking with exhaustion, dressed.

The man who had run off with water came back lugging an entire bucket. Touke worried for a moment that he had thought Aku was staying Kyourin, but when he approached, setting the bucket down with his head bowed, she saw that there was a cup of generous size floating in the water. Waving off his aide, Touke, still with Aku reclined in her arms, reached over for the cup. She scooped up a portion of the cool water and held the cup to Aku's lips. Aku, a little impatiently, grabbed the cup with both hands and drained the thing in seconds. She took a few more before she nodded that she was satisfied. "I think I can take some food before I pass out," she said between somewhat calmer breaths. "I'm starving."

Touke turned toward the gathered. "Marquis."

"Yes, Your Highness." One of them raised herself to a sitting position. The Lord Governor of Teki was a small woman, her brown hair streaked with blonde. Despite her size, she was obviously powerful. Touke wasn't sure how she got that impression. Maybe it was simply the way she sat, or the severe set of her face.

Touke resisted the impulse to bow low. She was the Queen here. "I think we'll take that food now. Where's the banquet?"

"We'll lead you there." The Marquis got to her feet, the others gathered around following her. "Can the Taiho walk?"

"I'm fine," Aku said. Even so, Touke had to help her to her feet. When she finally got to standing, she tried taking a few shaky steps.

Exasperated, Touke took her up in her arms. Aku really was very light, much lighter than someone of her size should be. With how many bags of rice Touke had carried around at the inn, it really wasn't that much of a stretch. Difficult, but not impossible. "Okay, let's go," she said, her voice only slightly strained.

"You didn't have to do that," Aku muttered in her strangely weak voice as the people led them off into the palace.

"You were gonna fall over again."

Aku didn't reply.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Aku had never been so exhausted in her life.

The reception for her and her queen was extravagant, as far as she noticed. She was so tired her vision was blurry, so it was hard to tell for sure. Touke carried her, interrupted in her walking by people coming before her saying repetitious obsequious things. Eventually she carried Aku to a chair and set her down. It was a very comfortable chair, and it took some effort to not pass out. Touke sat not far from her. She blearily looked around at the gathered people, hardly taking in any details. Everything was very colorful, that she noticed.

Food was brought out, and most people took a spot at the table they were sitting at. A few dishes were set down right in front of her. She supposed Mei had told the cooks that she couldn't have anything with meat, so had set aside a few portions just for her. Aku was too tired to feel grateful. She could barely hold her chopsticks. She managed to eat a little, not very much. It didn't take long for her to pass out in her chair.

Her hunger woke her up the next morning. She felt pretty miserable. Her stomach gnawed on her other organs. It was a new sensation; until her trip to Han, she had rarely eaten only two meals a day. And then she had just spent a whole day eating barely anything at all. And the effort she had put in running wasn't helping. She had never worked so hard in her life. That was the other part of her misery, the aching pain in her limbs, a dull throb that already had her frustrated. She didn't want to try to move. But she probably should, being morning and all.

At least she thought it was morning. She opened her eyes, and looked around at her surroundings, her vision as clear as usual. There was sunlight shining into the room, which suggested it was morning by the shallow angle, but as she didn't know what side of the palace she was on it could just as easily be evening. The room she was in reminded her a lot of her home on Houzan; the simple elegance of the furnishings, the silk curtains around the bed. Even though she knew she was probably in one of the better guest rooms in the palace. Mei had been a soldier, and Aku knew she preferred simple decoration above extravagant, so the palace had likely been adapted to her tastes. She had been governor for a while, after all. Aku sat up.

And immediately regretted it. She had had to tense her back up to support Touke's weight, and now it hurt terribly. She tried to hold it in but ended up letting out a groan of pain. She reached around to rub her lower back. That helped a little. Of course, twisting around to do that strained her sore arm and shoulder, only making that worse.

"Is the Taiho in pain?" came a small voice.

She looked over toward the door to see someone standing there with her head bowed deeply. By the style and quality of her clothes, Aku assumed she was a servant. "I'm fine," Aku said. "Just tired from flying across half the kingdom. Come on in." Not only her, but two more servants came in. That didn't exactly surprise her. They walked up to a spot not far from the bed, and suddenly prostrated themselves on the ground. Aku immediately told them to stand up. When they did, Aku asked, "Where's Touke?" The servants glanced at each other. "The Queen."

"Taking breakfast with the Lord Governor."

"Bring me to them."

The servants hesitated. "The Lord Governor said you were free to rest today."

"Bring me to them." She was starting to get a tingling of anxiety being removed from Touke, now that she was awake, and she didn't want to stay away for longer than necessary. Really, it was much greater than a tingling, but it did have a similar texture to it. She would try to explain that to them, to make her sound less demanding somehow. But they wouldn't understand anyway. Just as sometimes she didn't understand humans, she wouldn't expect humans to understand the burning need in Kirin to be near their master. She hadn't understood herself until it had happened to her.

"What would the Taiho like to wear?"

She just noticed now she wasn't decent. She hadn't really expected to be asked that question. Servants in places like this often dressed their masters appropriate to the situation, no matter the wishes of the masters themselves. Perhaps because she was the Kirin she had the choice, or maybe that's just the way Mei ran things. "Have you seen what we wear on Houzan?"

Their eyes widened, apparently at the thought of going on a shouzan. "I'm afraid not."

Aku shrugged. "Simple." The servants bowed their heads in acknowledgement.

Soon Aku was dressed. Standing was torture, but she bore it. While the servants gave her more help than necessary getting into her clothes—though it was more necessary than it would usually be, as she was very sore and stiff—Aku learned their names. They looked a little surprised she would want to know, but they didn't say anything about it. Someone else led her away from her room—or more accurately, rooms—and through the palace, alternating inside and outside. The place was rather austere, the trappings simple. There were a lot of blues and yellows, the colors of the Teki Provincial Guard. The pain in her limbs and back slowly receded as she used them, working out the tension. A bubbling happiness started rising in Aku's chest as they walked, as though a piece in the puzzle of life were falling into place; she realized it was because she was nearing Touke. It was amazing she could feel Touke around so unconsciously.

Soon she found her. Touke and Mei were in a small room, nothing like the hall they had been in last night. It was probably one of Mei's personal rooms. There was a low table among some plush-looking chairs, on which there was food arrayed. Aku was very relieved to see Touke safe—and better yet, getting along with Mei—and she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "Aku Taiho." As she walked in, Mei started scrambling to her feet, clearly intending to either bow or prostrate herself.

Aku waved at her. "No, stay down." Aku thanked the person who had guided her before moving for one of the chairs. She sat as near Touke as she could. It seemed the closer she was the more intense her glee. It was enough for her to almost forget the pain.

"Are you well?" asked Mei.

"You're up and around," said Touke in her usual drawl, "so probably."

"Yes, I'm fine," Aku said, the smile she wore making it a little difficult to talk properly. "I'm in a little pain, but it's nothing more than I can handle." She reached for some nearby fruit. "I'm starving, though." She took a generous bite out of the red, fist-sized fruit. She didn't know what it was for sure, but it was sweet and juicy, so it didn't really matter. "Don't mind me," she said through her mouthful of fruit.

She got a few amused looks at her zeal—though she thought she saw a small amount of guilt in Touke—but they did turn back to each other. "So about the Chousai," Touke started.

Mei nodded. "Yes, the Chousai. I suppose his violence towards the two of you settles the matter. We're going to war. I've already sent messengers to our allied provinces, as well as Retsu and Ken. We should hear back in a couple days. We've already started coordinating our armies."

"Okay," Touke said. Aku suddenly noticed she was a little white-faced, had likely been since before she'd arrived. She had been so distracted by the aura Touke gave off she hadn't even noticed.

"I have up to now been leading our alliance, responsibilities I would now like you to share. I would cede all authority to you, but I can see by the set of your face that you are not prepared for such responsibility, if you'll forgive my saying. I'll help you along, if you'll allow it. The minimum I require from you is to be a presence. Just seeing you will give the generals, and the soldiers beneath them, great confidence."

Touke nodded. "I understand."

"I would like you to contribute as much as possible. It is my hope that in aiding lead our forces against the Chousai you will gradually accustom yourself to the authority that is yours as Queen. I know it can be hard to adapt to. It took me some getting used to when I was promoted to general, then again to Lord Governor. I was just a simple soldier, so I have some idea of what you're feeling. So don't worry overmuch. Take it slowly. I'm here to support you every step of the way, if you'll allow it."

Touke nodded again. "I appreciate it. I'll do my best."

A thin smile sprouted on Mei's face. "That is the most we can hope to ask for."

"It's really the least you could ask for."

Mei and Aku laughed. Aku almost got fruit up her nose.

Possibly out of respect for Aku, Mei changed the subject from war and blood. Instead, Mei asked Touke about her life, and how she had gotten chosen as queen. Touke somehow left out the sex part. She managed to get a good interview in. As it went on, color noticeably returned to Touke's face. This, talking about her life, even for someone so reserved, was clearly much easier than talking about the responsibilities she now bore. Mei's interview was so complete Touke talked about things Aku didn't know either, stuff about what she remembered of her family, her life in the rike, and later serving the eccentric hisen that was once her old lord.

Aku quickly discovered that Mei had Touke calling her by her azana, which was Kokumei. Aku had noticed it before, and still found it a little weird, that Mei's azana was a word, and not really a name, at least not one she had heard before. But she wasn't entirely sure how people chose azana anyway so maybe it wasn't actually all that strange. Mei had a good azana, so she guessed it didn't really matter. She was sure it would be more appropriate to use her uji, but if Mei didn't want her to use it, that was her decision.

Touke asked Mei a few questions, so the focus of the conversation turned to her. So now Mei was being interviewed about her life. Most of it Aku knew. She had risen up the ranks in the Forbidden Army quickly. In an exhibition duel against the General of the Left, Mei had beaten the stuffing out of him. The King at the time had been so impressed that he had had Mei replace him. The King after that had been so impressed with Mei's service, he had had her assigned to Teki Province, where she had now been serving for over a hundred years, through the reigns of a couple kings. "Actually," Mei said at one point, "I'm the only Marquis of my kind, the only one in the Kingdoms." Then she seemed to notice her slip.

That got a weird look from Touke. "Of your kind?"

Mei hesitated a little. Aku could kind of understand that; many people didn't accept her kind, and a less enlightened king could easily remove her from her post just in knowing. But Aku didn't think Touke was that kind of person, so she answered for her. "Mei is a hanjuu."

Touke's eyes widened, and she stared at Mei for a few seconds. Finally she said, "What kind?"

The smile on Mei's face, together with the casual, languid way she had been sitting the whole time, could be interpreted as predatory. It almost gave Aku a shudder. "Big leopard."

"I've seen her," Aku said, her face dominated by her usual smile, she could tell. "She's magnificent."

"You're too kind, Aku Taiho."

"But it's true, Lord Governor."

Touke glanced between them. "I thought there were laws against hanjuu in place in Kyou. Most kingdoms, actually."

"True, there are," Mei said with a nod. "I'm surprised I'm here myself. I shouldn't have even been able to get into the prefectural academy. I should have died hundreds of years ago working some field somewhere. But here I am. Of course, I'm sure, it helps what form I take. Being a predator is certainly conducive to soldiering." A short pause. Before anyone decided to speak, Mei asked, "Does my being a hanjuu bother you, Your Highness?"

"No," Touke said, shaking her head and looking a little offended. "Of course not. My brother was a hanjuu," she added after a second.

"You didn't mention that," Mei said over Aku's baffled surprise. What were the chances?

"I didn't really think to mention it. Does it really matter?"

Mei considered that for a moment. Then she turned to Aku. "Good work. You picked a good queen."

"Let's see how she does before making judgements."

Touke nodded at Mei. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She turned a raised eyebrow at Aku. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Aku could only smile.

"So, what sort of hanjuu was your brother?" asked Mei.

Then Touke and Mei did a little bonding over the topic of hanjuu. Touke had very few memories of her brother, so young she was when he had died, but they were good ones. Aku found the whole thing strangely touching. She hadn't expected Touke and Mei to get along so well. Watching this scene before her warmed her heart in a way she hadn't thought it would, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of. Maybe she was just happy to see Touke, usually so reserved, getting along with anyone. Maybe she was pleased Touke was developing a warm relationship with one of her greatest allies in the kingdom. In fact, Aku had been considering recommending that Touke make Mei chousai when this business with the current Chousai was done with. It was good that they got along, very good. Her quick adaptation to dealing with Mei, Aku thought, was a good indication of how she would adapt to her duties, despite how casual Mei was, and she thought that was great as well.

Actually, now that she thought about it, this whole business with the Chousai, the coming war, may very well work to adapt Touke to her role. That was a depressing thought. Aku would much rather that ease come through benevolence than violence.

They must have been talking for a while. A servant poked her head into the room, and Mei nodded to her. "I have a good portion of our generals gathered here," she said to Touke, "and I would like to introduce Your Highness to them, over lunch. We will likely discuss plans for our assault on the central provinces as well." Mei turned to Aku. "I would also like you to be there for the first few minutes. It would look better for Touke to arrive with you, and I have already gathered she could use you for emotional support." Touke didn't deny it. "As soon as you get uncomfortable, I would suggest you leave."

Aku nodded. "I think I can do that. Although, simply being in the same room as a sword makes me uncomfortable, so I'll wait until I'm _too_ uncomfortable."

A short grumble of a laugh came from Mei. "Whatever you wish, Aku Taiho. Well, then." She stood.

Again Aku was led through the palace, that sea of blue and yellow. As they neared where they were going, judging by Mei's somewhat more professional body language, Aku started getting the vague feeling she had been here before. This must have been where the welcoming banquet had been held, somewhere around here. Aku was sure they were almost there, so she took Touke's arm and linked it with her own. It would be better, she was pretty sure, for the two of them to appear together, unified. A queen's closeness to her Kirin was often interpreted as closeness to the Way. Touke gave her a look, but didn't pull away.

Mei charged without slowing into a room, an open hall with a high ceiling. Inside was a table, and around it were gathered an assortment of men and one woman, most of them in armor. Those that weren't, Aku recognized their dress as that of military men. So these would be the generals. Each of them was wearing a sword. With a flash of fear, Aku felt herself shrink slightly in the presence of so many weapons. But she straightened her back and forced herself not to think about it. She had seen plenty of weapons people brought on the shouzan, she reminded herself. This wasn't anything new.

When they entered, Mei quickly introduced them. Everyone got out of their chairs and prostrated themselves on the floor. Touke told them immediately to get up. When they did, one man quickly moved toward them, bearing a long, thin bundle. Touke watched as he approached, a strange expression on her face Aku couldn't place. The man dropped to a knee, head down, and proffered the bundle with both hands. "This belongs to you, Your Highness."

Touke hesitated for a moment, before reaching forward with her open hand to unwrap the bundle as it still sat in the man's hands. The cloth parted, and revealed a sword. Aku repressed the urge with great effort to take a step away. For an instrument of death, it wasn't unpleasing to the eye, all made of gold and sprinkled with jewels. But Aku found she could barely look at it. When it was revealed, Touke let out a short gasp. "This is mine?" she asked after a moment.

"It is Ryuutei-tou," he said. "It belongs to Kyou-Ou."

Touke continued to stare at the sword. Aku thougth she was much more impressed with the weapon than anyone had right to be. "Isn't this supposed to be in Soufuu?"

"Yes."

"How did you get it?"

"I nicked it."

Touke blinked, her eyes now stuck on the man. "You stole it."

"I did." He didn't sound particularly bothered with his theft; if anything he seemed proud of himself. "I am Sei Chou, General of the Forbidden Army of the Left. When the Chousai declared himself King, many of my men and I deserted. We took a few things with us."

Aku wasn't sure if she should be showing ironic appreciation for his desertion, praising him for his foresight—he must have known that, should the king return in time, he or she would need to lead people into battle, and would certainly need a good sword—or reprimanding him for stealing from the throne. The situation was certainly complicated.

Touke, though, didn't seem likewise conflicted. She untangled her arm with Aku's to take the sword with both hands. Slowly, reverently, she drew the sword. As the silver-blue blade, the color looking nothing but harnessed lightning, glinted in the light Aku took an involuntary step away, trying to smother her irrational fear of the weapon and only partially succeeding. The sight of Touke looking at the sword in wonder raised a sinking feeling of dread in Aku's chest. Such intense appreciation of a weapon could only be a bad omen. Touke sheathed the sword, took the matching golden and jeweled belt, and hung the detestable thing from her waist.

A shudder worked through Aku at the sight. It was a strange state she was in. On the one hand, she was ecstatic to be around Touke, and wanted to be closer, to never leave her side. On the other, the sword filled her with fear, and the sight of Touke with it with dread; she wanted to run over to her, tear the thing out of her grasp, and throw it across the room. If she could get any closer, against the urge to flee the weapon inspired in her, she might have. She felt the weapon, and the shedding of blood that it symbolized, was going to corrupt Touke, that she would be swayed away from the Way by the heat of battle and the feeling of taking lives. She had read that, as strange as it sounded, people could learn to get used to it, and even get addicted to it. She definitely didn't want that to happen to her Touke, her Queen. But yet, she was intensely happy that Touke was so pleased by the thing. The conflicting emotions would tear her apart.

After that business was over with, they moved to the table. Touke sat at the head of the table, the place usually reserved for the lord of the palace. A chair was brought around on that side for Aku to sit, reinforcing the image of the two of them being inseparable. The conflict continued in her as she sat so close to the good Touke and the evil weapon.

Aku ate almost nothing, despite her appreciation that, again, some food had been set aside specifically for her. She wasn't particularly hungry. It could be because she was uneasy around so many weapons, but it could just as easily be because she had just spent a few hours slowly munching on an assortment of fruits. This wasn't that different from people on the shouzan, she tried to convince herself. She did notice that Mei was eating, opposed to the small amounts the other people had, mostly meat. She wondered if that was the usual way of things. It wouldn't be that surprising, considering her form. It must be a little bit of a hassle feeding a leopard. As she understood, meat was pretty expensive. She supposed if anyone in Teki could afford it it would be Mei.

Soon, sooner than she would like, the conversation turned to war.

* * *

Kokumei: 克明 (This is a word in Japanese meaning "elaborate" or "diligence")

Ryuutei-tou: 鎏霆刀 (Obscure kanji, I know. I like the sound.)

靖睖: Sei Chou (surname given name)


	16. Chapter Fifteen

It started off innocently enough. One of the generals—Kyourin couldn't remember his name—looking back and forth across the table, asked the question that, by their reactions, she could tell a few of them were thinking. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused. What exactly is our command structure?"

It was Mei who spoke. "I know it's a little confusing, what with Her Highness, myself, and a Forbidden Army general here, but it's really pretty simple. Her Highness is, of course, Commander-in-Chief. We've already deliberated on the topic, and we have decided that I will be advising her, and sharing some of her authority. I don't mean to diminish our Queen, but she admitted to me that she has little to no military experience. Your Highness?"

Touke nodded. "That's true."

"So, at least for the moment, I will likely be directing our forces." The looks of relief on the generals' faces were very clear. "Your lords have all ceded authority to me in the name of the Queen, so we may all work under one command."

"My Lord has told me nothing of this," one of the generals said hesitantly.

"General of the Right," said Mei after a moment of thought, "Sou Province." That was all the way on the other side of the kingdom.

"That's right," he said with a nod.

"Would you have a problem with following my commands? You can bring it back to your lord if you're conflicted."

The general and one to his right Kyourin thought was probably another from Sou exchanged a glance. "Are you _the_ General Kokumei? The one who suppressed the Sekkon Rebellion?"

"Sekkon." Mei's eyes took on a faraway look. She didn't speak for a moment as a couple of the generals murmured at each other. The Sekkon Rebellion was an uprising against the Marquis of An Province, whose uji was Kon, some hundreds of years ago. The Forbidden Army of the Left, which Mei had at the time been General of, had been sent in to end the conflict. Something about the tactics used Kyourin didn't understand and didn't want to think about was remarkable, and had since become accepted procedure for dealing with insurrections the world over. She was sure it involved death, and blood, and all things horrible. "That takes me back. Yes, that was me."

The generals shared a look again. "No problem here."

"So what exactly is our plan?"

"We should start with the end. If we know where we're going, we can figure out how to get there."

"Well, of course, the goal is to sit Her Highness on the throne."

"Yes, of course that. But I was wondering how. Do we want to ascend the palace the traditional way, in a land battle? That will require much resources, time, and deaths. If we go along that route, we would have to plan provisions, strategies, acceptable loses…" Kyourin shuddered, goosebumps raising across her skin. _Acceptable loses_. In her opinion, there was no such thing as an acceptable loss. No one seemed to notice her gradually building discomfort, and they simply plunged on.

"I think it's pretty simple," Touke said in a weak, unconfident voice. "We fly in on the air cavalry and kill the Chousai and the others." Kyourin shuddered again. Now she was getting painful tingles, powerful enough to make her squirm in her chair. Hearing it from Touke's lips only made it worse.

There was a pause as the generals considered that. "Yes, that will probably put the least strain on our resources. It has weaknesses though."

"I have an idea," Mei said. Everyone hushed to turn to her. "We spread our forces into several groups, attack the central provinces with small units from all sides. In one of these battles, say against a provincial capital, we use a portion of our air cavalry. Hit and run tactics, staying just long enough to cause disorder before scattering. The intention being, of course, to draw out the Chousai's forces. He will split a portion of his air unit to deal with this nuisance. That is when we sweep in with everything we have on the palace."

No. Too many people would die. Far too many. She didn't like this. She had to stop this. But she couldn't. If they didn't go to war, Touke wouldn't sit on the throne. The Chousai wouldn't step aside. And if Touke didn't sit on the throne, wasn't able to perform the royal rituals, than the people would only suffer more. She didn't know what to do. Not that they would listen to a Kirin when it comes to war anyway. Her helplessness burned in her like the sun, and she started sweating.

"Perhaps," suggested a general, "we could attack different targets each time."

A different general said, "No, we must make it the same target each time, so the Chousai knows what to defend. Otherwise it's pointless."

"No, he's partially right. Pick a few different targets and hit them with small numbers, over and over. The Chousai will send his forces out to defend one of the targets or, if we're lucky, split them between all of them. Then we attack, and slaughter the Chousai and his cronies." Kyourin was starting to feel nauseous, gradually more so every second. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep down her fruit.

"But won't using such small divisions put our people at risk?"

"As long as we can keep it within acceptable losses—"

Kyourin couldn't take it anymore. She got up and ran out of the room. She didn't care if she made a scene, she didn't care what the generals thought of her. She just had to get out of there. Leaving Touke was like ripping a piece out of her heart and soul, but she did it anyway. She ran out and just kept running, dodging around corners and into and out of buildings. She wasn't thinking of where she was going. She just wanted to get away from the talk of blood, the talk of war and death.

After a while she petered to a halt. She looked around herself. It seemed she was in an open patch between buildings. She gradually put together that this was seishin, or whatever the equivalent in a provincial palace was called. At the moment, she couldn't for the life of her remember if they used the same word for it or not. She supposed it didn't matter.

She was about to flop over into the grass, lightly spotted with flowers, when she stopped. Her skin was still crawling with disgust and fear from the talk of blood. Well, if it was going to do that, then she just wouldn't wear this skin. She glanced quick to see there was nobody around, then ripped her clothes off and shifted. Letting out a long exhale of relief, she folded her legs under herself and sat there in the grass.

She didn't know how long she sat there, staring off into space. Her thoughts were dark, all blood and death, tempered by a feeling of helplessness, like she were being torn apart in all directions and couldn't do a thing to stop it. She was pretty sure she had been left alone for a long time. But it couldn't last forever. "Aku Taiho," came the mildly surprised voice.

Kyourin let out a little huff for a response.

There was a short silence. "May I?"

She knew what Mei was asking. "Go ahead." She turned her head. A few moments later, Mei's clothes were hitting the ground next to Kyourin's. Soon she was looking at a leopard. About the size of a large man, with the coloring and spots matching Mei's human hair in shades, intelligent green eyes in her feline face. She stretched for a moment, pawing at the ground. Then she, apparently at random, ran in a tight circle around Kyourin faster than she could turn her head to watch, tearing up the grass with her claws. In the middle of her circle, directly in front of Kyourin, she leapt into the air, also apparently at random, coming down back into a run.

Kyourin knew she was letting loose, relieving the pressure that had built from being in human form for a while. Mostly during their talks on Mei's shouzan, during which they had found an isolated place to shift, Mei had done a fair amount of explaining what being a hanjuu was to her. She said that the leopard was her natural state. She always felt more comfortable that way. She even slept as a leopard, which must be interesting for her servants. Sometimes, she had said to Kyourin's surprise, she performed Councils in that form. Apparently her subordinates had gradually grown used to it. Being in human form, to her, always felt like wearing heavy, wet, hot clothes that she would only be happy to be rid of. The longer she stayed human the worse she felt, and it was always a great relief to shed her human disguise. So this performance was no surprise.

Eventually she tired of that. Soon Kyourin felt a soft pressure against her side she knew was Mei leaning there. For some reason, making physical contact as beasts never bothered them as it would as women. "You know," Kyourin said, "for your age, you sure act like a kitten much of the time."

Kyourin knew without seeing that Mei was likely wearing a toothy grin. "Never too old to play around." A short silence passed before Mei broke Kyourin's brooding silence. "I'm sorry for exposing you to that. I shouldn't have forced you to come."

"You didn't force me to come. I wanted to be of some help to Touke. By the way, is she okay? Did you just leave her there?"

"I broke the meeting up for the generals to brainstorm minor details on their own," Mei said in a smooth, uncaring tone. "I had one of them take Touke aside to start her education. I'm starting her on tactics and the sword for the moment, just so she can get through the next few months."

"She has a hinman."

Mei sounded a little annoyed. "Hinman can't do it all for you. And if you relied completely on a hinman, well, then your accomplishments wouldn't be your own at all, would they?"

"I suppose."

"We give Her Highness the support she needs to make it through the day, but in time she will need to stand on her own, and in turn support Kyou. We can't do everything for her."

"I guess you're right," she mumbled. "I would like to do as much as I can, though."

"You gave her a hinman, didn't you? And I'm assuming you assigned some of your shirei to her?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then you are doing all you can. This is war. Kirin aren't built for war. You have done all you can reasonably do to protect Her Highness. That is your duty. Come time the war is over, you will run your province, and keep your eyes on Her Highness. That is all you can do. No one asks anything more. No one asks you to fight this war. That's our job."

Mei fell silent, and Kyourin let the silence pass for a little bit. Then she said, "I can't help feeling I'm doing less than I should, that I'm failing Kyou somehow."

It was obvious from her tone that Mei was exasperated. "I just said there's no more you can do. Look, Kyou hasn't had the best luck with monarchs since I've been around. A couple lasted for a while, but nothing too special. Each destroyed the kingdom, over and over again. And each time I saw the new one, I knew the same would happen, that I would somehow have to keep Teki intact through the storm. But Her Highness, somehow…"

Mei broke off, obviously in thought. When she spoke again, her tone was different, somehow smaller. "I feel different about this one. I don't know why, I don't know how. You can often tell something about a monarch by the way they treat their Kirin. If she can turn to showing the citizens of Kyou that same compassion she has for you. I don't know what it is. She just feels different. I believe Her Highness has the potential to be one of the better monarchs we have had in quite some time. Of course, she could just as easily fail, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon. I believe if we can get her through this war, put her on the throne, help her form a solid government, we will have good times in head of us.

"I think you might be seeing my point. Your most important duty you have to the people of Kyou is to pick the monarch, pick our lord. I can't help feeling this time, we have a good one on our hands. You have already done what you must, the greatest gift you could possibly give the people of this kingdom. After the gift of the Queen, in the state things are in, what more could you possibly do?"

Her words didn't really make Kyourin feel any better—there was nothing that could make her feel better about her helplessness before the coming violence—but she probably had a point. "I suppose you're right."

"I usually am."

"Speaking of solid government—"

Mei interrupted. "Now is not the time for such discussion."

"Alright."

"However, I will be introducing Her Highness to important people around my government, and escorting her to our allied provinces to do the same. Hopefully she'll take to enough competent people to form a proper government. But it's not time to talk of it quite yet."

"Okay," Kyourin said lowly. It wasn't like she had to make the offer now. By Mei's reaction, she probably knew perfectly well what Kyourin had been about to say, so it wasn't like saying it made any real difference. She let a silence descend again. For long minutes the two of them simply sat there, staring into the distance.

Mei spoke first. "Her Highness has the soul of a warrior."

It wasn't possible to hold back her distaste. "I suppose."

"Being a warrior isn't just about killing, you know."

"So I've heard."

Mei sounded annoyed again. "How about me? Am I nothing but a killer?"

Kyourin almost felt herself recoil at her tone, but somehow she managed to stand her ground. "You know I didn't mean that."

For a moment it seemed Mei was going to bite her head off—metaphorically, of course—but then her growling ceased. "Never mind. It's not something I would expect a Kirin to understand. You Kirin operate by a completely different logic. The kind of logic where the ends don't justify the means."

"There are several kinds of logic that operate such."

"I know that. And I don't understand any of them. Believe it or not," Mei said with a yawn, "I am pretty smart."

"So I've heard." If the face she was wearing at the moment were capable of smiling, there would be a small, thin one. "I'm not exactly an idiot myself you know."

"Really? I hadn't heard that."

Kyourin snorted.

Then came a voice off to the side. "Aku? And is that the Lord Governor?" That was Touke's voice. Kyourin turned her head to see Touke standing a short distance off, staring at them with her head cocked. Seeing Touke there brought a spike of happiness in her, almost enough already to break her depressed mood. She saw Touke was wearing her detestable sword, even though those things weren't allowed back here. Either no one had decided to stop her, or her status allowed her to simply ignore those rules. Or maybe Mei didn't hold to that one.

Kyourin didn't really feel like getting up, but Mei stood up and started slinking toward her. "Did you need something, Your Highness?" She sat on her haunches a short distance away.

"Not me. Rei was asking for you." She looked completely unfazed by talking with a leopard.

"So he sent you," Mei said, her voice baffled.

"No, I came looking for Aku. He said you would be together."

Mei shrugged. She turned toward her clothes. On the way there, her form contorted, and suddenly there she was in her human shape. Touke averted her eyes. As long as Mei was shifting, she may as well. Aku joined Mei by their clothes, and started dressing with her. "You know," Mei said, working at a knot, "my servants keep saying I shouldn't throw my expensive clothes on the grass."

"What's the difference between doing that and sitting on it?"

"Well, you're not supposed to do that either," Mei said with a laugh.

"That doesn't sound like any fun."

"Well see, you're not supposed to have fun in silk."

Aku scoffed. "Nonsense. I had fun in silk all the time on Houzan."

"Yes, but you also had fifty people to clean your clothes," Mei said with a laugh. "I guess twenty five, since you split with En Taiho."

"Actually, less. Renki too."

"Oh, I forgot about him. He hadn't taken human form by the time I was there, had he?"

"I can't remember for sure. Sometime around then."

By about that time they were both dressed. Mei ran off to find whoever Rei was, and Aku walked up to Touke. Now that she was closer to Touke, the happiness her presence inspired intensified, almost making her forget her previous doldrums. "You were looking for me?"

When Touke turned toward her, the sword approached. A flash of fear rose in Aku and she nearly took a step back, but she tempered herself. "I wanted you to eat with me. On our own, I mean."

"Eat?" repeated Aku with a frown. "What time is it?" She glanced up at the sky. The sun was well on its way to the horizon. "Oh. I hadn't noticed that much time pass."

Touke had her usual slight smile on her face, the smile Aku knew meant she had done something amusing or cute. Or both. "C'mon," she said with a twitch of her head, and turned to move in a seemingly random direction.

"Where are we going?" asked Aku after a moment. She walked at Touke's side, the opposite side to her sword.

"My apartments."

"And you know where those are?"

Touke shrugged. "I spent a lot of time in a place not that different from this. I got good at finding my way around."

"I wouldn't think a provincial palace and the home of a hisen would be that similar."

"Above Unkai, everything is pretty much the same." Aku supposed there could be some truth to that. After a short walk—the proximity to Mei's own rooms was probably a sign of the importance of the apartments—they arrived where Touke lived. The place was a lot nicer than Aku's, even Mei's, but she supposed this is where foreign dignitaries would stay, so Mei had to make sure it was opulent enough they wouldn't be offended. A room or two inside, and there was a room much like the one they had had breakfast in, though shinier with precious metals. The table again had food on it. "Go away," Touke said to the servants inside. "Far away."

The servants gave each other weird looks, but didn't move at first. She supposed Mei gave them more leeway and was less direct with orders. So Aku said, "I believe the Queen wishes to have a private conversation with me she wouldn't want you to overhear." The servants bowed their heads in acquiescence and disappeared. That's better. Mei should talk to her servants about how to properly behave around people like Touke. Aku was sure Mei wouldn't want to indirectly offend guests.

When they were gone, Touke let out a long breath, and shrunk a little. "Alone at last."

"You're not technically alone."

"You don't count." Touke sunk into a divan, letting out another sigh. "I can't believe I made it through that. I thought I would collapse." Her back-country drawl was coming back.

Aku gave her a big smile, even though her eyes were closed. She walked a bit closer. The sword across Touke's lap kept her farther away than she would like. "I think you're doing very well. Surprisingly well, considering how you reacted at first."

"I'm barely holding together. Force of will." Touke lifted her arm, inviting Aku to sit with her. She didn't move. When Touke opened her eyes, she probably noticed the hesitant look in Aku's. "What's wrong? You been acting all weird around me today. Did I do something wrong?"

"Not you," Aku said with a shake of your head. "It's that." She pointed at the sword, as though accusing it of a crime.

Touke glanced down at the sword. "What's wrong with it?"

"I'm scared of weapons. Kirin, remember?"

Touke sighed. She stood up, working at where the sword attached to the belt, walking over to the other side of the room. She removed the sword and sheath, and set it down on a table far away. Not quite far away enough for Aku to be completely comfortable, but good enough for now. Then Touke returned to the divan, and made her offer again.

Her smile wider than before, she slunk over toward Touke. She sat a short distance away, then laid down, settling her head in Touke's lap. With physical contact, the bubbling happiness in Aku raised to frothing waves, and she let out a sigh of contentment. She felt a slight tugging that she interpreted as Touke running a hand through her mane. A short silence passed, then Aku said, "We should do this every evening."

"That wouldn't be so bad." Aku could hear the smile on Touke's voice.

"We should set aside some time for this. Every evening at dinner is Queen–Kirin snuggle time."

Touke let out a short chuckle. "I don't think we can do that. We can try, I guess. As long as we get rid of the servants first."

"I don't really care."

"I do," Touke said in a lower voice.

"You really shouldn't. The relationship between a Kirin and her liege is very important. A close one will only imply to your subjects that you're staying close to the Way."

"I don't think everyone will think of it that way."

"I suppose not. I still don't care."

Touke chuckled again. "You're silly."

"I've been told."

A long silence stretched, Touke petting Aku and Aku wearing a huge, idiotic smile on her face. Eventually Touke said, "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I shouldn't have let you come with to the meeting. With the generals. It didn't think it would be that bad. I knew Kirin didn't like war, but…"

Aku shook her head against Touke's legs. "It's okay. I wanted to go. I want to be there for you as much as I can."

"I guess." Another short silence. "Next time, you're not coming."

Even though she probably wouldn't have come again anyway, Touke telling her she didn't have to to spare her discomfort warmed her heart. "Thank you."

"Nothing to thank me for, really."

"It is," Aku said with a sigh. "A lesser queen would order me to come with."

"Sad excuse for a queen."

"I suppose so."

Touke pulled on her shoulder a little bit, and Aku immediately understood what she wanted. She turned over onto her back. Her mane got a little mixed up between them, but that was okay. "I want you to believe me when I say this," Touke said, looking into her eyes. "With the war and all, I think it's important."

"Okay," Aku breathed.

"I would never hurt anyone," Touke said, "if I didn't have to. Even something like bringing you to the meetings. I wouldn't do it. Sure, we're going to war. But it's necessary to kill a few to save Kyou."

"I can't abide by that logic."

"But it's true."

Aku supposed she had something of a point. It wasn't a decision she'd ever be able to make herself, but she supposed that's why Kirin didn't rule the Kingdoms. And there was no denying the truth in Touke's eyes. A surging feeling arose in her, a feeling of joy and pride in Touke. It was so powerful it compared with the usual Touke-inspired happiness. "I really did choose well," Aku muttered to herself.

Smiling slightly, Touke reached over Aku to the table. She came back with a couple pieces of dried fruit. She held one of them up to her lips. Aku had to restrain the urge to laugh. "What are you doing?" she said.

"You're my Kirin," Touke said with her thin smile. "It's my job to take care of you."

"You're my Queen. It's _my_ job to take care of _you_."

"We'll split the difference."

Aku laughed, but accepted the fruit.

Sekkon: 切悃

Rei: 励


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Touke took a long breath to center herself.

They had been in Kokumei's home palace, headquarters of the alliance against the Chousai, for a couple weeks now. Touke had begun her education some time ago. Mostly they were all things she would need in the coming war—tactics, military hierarchy, things like that. Kokumei had also been giving her little introductions into politics, but never anything too in depth. Aku was, of course, slowly teaching her how to read and write. One of her lessons she found particularly enjoyable: she was being taught to fight. Kokumei and her subordinates had said, quite emphatically, that hinman couldn't do everything, so she should learn to pull her weight.

The help given by the hinman was speeding things up considerably. Touke, more than just learning the simple motions and stances and footwork of swordplay, was learning to direct the way the hinman moved her. With this, she could turn the fight in the direction she wanted. The hinman warned her that this could back her into a corner, but she was pretty sure her elementary knowledge of tactics would keep her from doing something too stupid.

Pinkon, which Touke thought was a silly sounding azana, was her sword instructor. He was bigger than her, with black hair in a braid much like her own, and razor-sharp black eyes. For practice they used these bamboo swords, which she knew there was a proper name for, but nobody had ever told her what it was. They just tossed the things at her to start the sparring match. They had gone a couple rounds already. Touke had one welt on her arm today. Pinkon must be pretty good to beat a hinman, but she was in these lessons because people like him existed in the first place. As usual, she had an audience. Whenever they had a sparring match, soldiers would gather to watch. Touke had been a little worried about this at first, that she would seem weak, but Kokumei had said it was actually a good thing for high-ranking soldiers—generals, commanders, the kind of people who would be up here—to see her as just an ordinary woman. The lower ranks, for some reason, didn't receive the same treatment.

Just as she was wondering how long Pinkon was going to take just sitting there, he moved. It still surprised her how fast he moved. But even as he started, a sensation like freezing water running down her limbs did exactly that, and her body started to move to intercept. The hinman—his name was Koubochi—moved her arm to intercept. The bamboo clashed with a loud crack above her head. On her own she stepped to the side and loosened her wrist, letting the remainder of the momentum of the strike carry to her left , then twisted, directing Koubochi to attack on the inside. Three rapid slashes came out of her, each raising a noisy smacking sound.

Pinkon let out a laugh as he blocked the third strike. "Good!" he shouted with his usual raucous energy. "Give me more!" he said, coming forward with a few rapid attacks of his own.

After trading blows a few times, with a loud slapping sound, Touke got a hit against his side. As usual, he barely seemed to notice; he was a tough guy. A few more and Touke got another hit, a stab straight at his chest. He was out of breath for a few seconds, dropping to his knees and clutching at his chest. Touke was worried she had hurt him, but he rose soon enough. They kept going for a while, Touke getting hit after hit on him. That whole afternoon he didn't get another hit on her. She felt a smile wider than her usual on her face.

"Getting confident, are we?"

Touke recognized that voice. She and Pinkon stopped swinging at each other, and they both turned to the direction the voice had come from. Kokumei was standing there with her arms crossed, an enormous grin on her face. To Touke's surprise, Aku was at her shoulder, looking a little pale. She guessed she wasn't all that surprised. It was almost time for them to have their supper, but it was still odd for Aku to come here. Here was Kokumei's little practice area. It was mostly open, with dirt floors, various weapons arrayed against two nearby walls. This was where Kokumei and her generals kept themselves fit and ready to fight at a moment's notice. She had never actually seen Kokumei here, though. "Lord Governor," she said, as she always called Kokumei when others were around.

"She is getting pretty good," said Pinkon. "She's improved a lot these weeks."

"Having a hinman is cheating. If she didn't have him, she would still be a beginner."

"I don't have time to be a beginner," Touke said with a shrug.

"I suppose that's true." Kokumei held out her open hand toward Pinkon. He tossed his bamboo sword into the air, and Kokumei turned her wrist, smoothly catching it. "But I don't like that confident smirk. If you will, Your Highness."

Touke wasn't sure what to think about this. Kokumei hadn't been a general for a long time. But her generals showed her the kind of deference that could only be gained by being able to kick their asses. And Kokumei had had several hundred years to get good at it. Even with her hinman, she wasn't sure she'd be able to win. _Don't give up yet_, Koubochi whispered in her head. _One hit on her will be a victory. Show her everything we have_. Touke nodded.

"You ready?" said Kokumei, with her sometimes-seen predatory smile on her face. It was a curl in the lip, a twinkling in the eyes, tempered by absolute confidence.

Touke nodded again. "Whenever you are."

If she had thought Pinkon moved fast, he was nothing compared to Kokumei. Koubochi moved her hand to the side and up to catch a slash before she could clearly see what was happening. Her hits weren't as hard as Pinkon's but they were faster, she discovered as a few more came nearly faster than Koubochi could get her body to move. Then a stinging, throbbing pain sprung to life on her off shoulder. She winced, taking a few steps back, clutching at the pain. She looked up to see Kokumei standing there, still smiling. "Dead. Round one to me." She raised her sword again.

A few more blows. Then she got hit in the hip. Then in the opposite side. Across the chest. On her arm, hard enough it was hard to hold her sword. All of the hits stung and pounded hard enough she was losing concentration. With Koubochi helping her along, it didn't keep her back too much, but she was getting worse. This was no clearer than when Kokumei slipped past her guard and punched her in the face with her fist holding the sword. Pain blossomed enough that her vision turned white, and she felt something snap. Her head started ringing. Kokumei swept her feet out from under her, and Touke came crashing heavily to the ground. She was so exhausted and sore from having the shit beat out of her she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get up.

"No!" came Aku's voice, sounding near tears. "I stood by because you asked me to, but I can't take this anymore! Stop it! Stop it now!"

"It's okay, Aku Taiho," said Kokumei. "I think I've made my point. Sit up if you please, Your Highness."

Using a good portion of the strength remaining in her limbs, Touke pushed herself up to her knees. Her face felt strangely warm. She leaned back to look up. Directly in front of her was Aku. As Touke watched, she froze in apparent shock, then seemed to be turning green. "Aku Taiho?" Kokumei came to Touke's front side, and took her in. "Your Highness, your nose is bleeding." She walked over to Aku, grabbed her by the shoulders, and turned her around so she was looking away. Kokumei told Aku to go to Touke's rooms, that she would send her along shortly, and the Kirin wandered off a little unsteadily.

That would be why her face was so warm. With her sleeve, she wiped at her face. Her sleeve came away dark and bloody. She probably shouldn't have done that. She wasn't used to wearing silk. Soon Kokumei was in front of her. She prodded at Touke's nose, enough to make her wince. "It's not actually broken, just a little bent. It should stop bleeding before too long."

"Don't feel too bad, Your Highness," came Pinkon's voice.

"Nobody can beat the Lord Governor," said one of the soldiers who had stopped to watch.

A slight smile was on Kokumei's face, as she squeezed Touke's nose shut, directing her to lean her head back. The pressure hurt a little. "You'll need to get cleaned up before you can see Aku." She waved with her free hand in a direction Touke assumed a servant to be. "Get a change of clothes and some water from Unkai."

"Why?" asked Touke, her voice strangely nasal.

"You saw how she reacted. Kirin are afraid of blood. Very afraid. If they touch it they can get sick, so you'll have to get cleaned up."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Aku told me of one time she got blood on her face. She didn't leave bed for a week."

Touke felt her face shift into one of shock, which tugged at her nose a little strangely. "Wow. I knew they didn't like blood, but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Kirin are frail creatures." Kokumei waited for a while, but Touke really didn't have anything to say. She was too busy fighting a sudden terror that something would happen to her frail little Kirin. After a moment she realized that wasn't what Kokumei was waiting for. She let go of her nose, and studied it for a while. "I think it stopped bleeding already. Go get cleaned up. Aku and dinner will be waiting for you by the time you get back." Before Touke could get up, Kokumei's hand came down on her shoulder. "I didn't want to hurt you. But I think you have to understand. No matter how good you get, there will always be someone better. If you meet someone on the field who moves like me, sic Aku's shirei on them, or just flee if you can. You and your hinman aren't ready for people on my level. I just wanted you to be aware." She helped Touke to her feet. "You shouldn't be too worried, though. People like me are few and far between. But you have to be aware." Touke nodded.

All awhile getting cleaned up, she couldn't stop thinking about Aku, about how she couldn't fight, how even touching blood would make her very ill. No wonder Aku couldn't fight, even if she'd wanted to. No wonder she needed shirei to protect her. No wonder she had to run out of the meeting, that even the sight of weapons terrified her.

She vowed to herself to never let her little Kirin see blood again.

* * *

Aku paused in her writing, considering her options.

Touke had made a lot of progress in her reading and writing. It seemed, if Touke only set her mind to something, she was a very quick study. Aku sifted through her library of characters in her mind, considering which ones would be most relevant for Touke's future life running the government, which were most important to learn. It was a pretty long list. She selected a few she hadn't gotten to yet, and wrote them down. One of those anxious thoughts occurred to her again. She squeezed her eyes shut.

The first battle of the war was coming. Touke had gone with Kokumei to the head of one of their armies, soon to assault a prefectural capital in An Province—they hadn't even told her which one. She supposed they didn't want her to imagine it. She could still imagine well enough what would happen. Touke at the head of an army with her detestable sword drawn, light shining off hundreds of similar weapons. Two armies clashing with each other, blood in the air. Touke being struck through the neck and choking on her own blood. Aku squeezed her eyes tighter. No, she couldn't think about it. She shouldn't. Touke had her shirei. She would be fine.

Their chances had improved since their flight from the capitol. The provinces on the fence had indeed allied with Mei when Touke and herself had dropped in for a visit. They had also dropped by An and Fu. In Fu, they had gotten subtly hostile treatment until they finally left for their own safety, to avoid a knife in the back. An they had simply been chased out. So it was the outer provinces with the Queen against the central three, a strange reversal from the usual course of war. They had superior numbers and, according to everyone, superior leadership.

This may be because of what many people called the Old Guard. The Old Guard was headed by three province lords—Shou in Kai, Techi in E, and Mei in Teki, called the Generals of the Old Guard, or just the Generals. They had all been appointed by Ken-Ou long ago. The other members were various generals and officials working under them, all dating back to the time of Ken-Ou. Shou, Techi, and Mei had originally been the generals of the Forbidden Army. They had been known as the jewels of the throne, serving with exceptional skill and undying loyalty to the king. So great was their renown and competence, that even across the rules of a few kings, nobody replaced them. Until the time of Ken-Ou

The king before Ken-Ou had led Kyou down to ruin. The entire kingdom was one big mess. A number of the province lords, to everyone's surprise, resigned rather than deal with the ruin and displeasure of the masses. Ken-Ou, at the very beginning of his rule, had to face this dilemma. He quickly got acquainted with the Generals with no small amount of hero worship, having heard their names since he was a child. The worst of the provinces was Teki. It should have been a rich province, with vast arable land, forests, and a central crossroads, but disaster and mismanagement had brought the whole thing to ruin. The first person he offered the province to, the prime minister of the province, refused the position. Shortly thereafter, a good portion of the officials abandoned the government, only worsening the state of affairs. He thought long and hard about who to place in such an important position, and, after much deliberation, offered the position to one of the few people he could trust: Mei. More or less the same thing happened with Kai, E, Sou, and An, though the governors had been changed in Sou and An since. The rest of the Old Guard were those they had brought with them to their provinces—their military subordinates they trusted, and a number of minor officials from the national government.

Even to those who knew them, it was a shock that the Generals had managed to turn their provinces around so quickly. The Old Guard were revered in their new provinces as the people who made their new lives possible, who had saved Kyou, and turned these three provinces into the richest in the kingdom. As before, the Old Guard, the Generals especially, were known for their powerful loyalty to the throne. So it was no surprise to anyone that it was one of the Generals who had taken in the Queen and the Taiho when they had been expelled from Soufuu. The only surprising thing, to many, was that the monarch had not been selected from one of the Generals in the first place.

Aku had had similar thoughts herself when she had first met the Generals, all three of whom had come on a shouzan. She knew a bit of their history, how they had come to power, how they had used that power. Even though they had started as warriors, they had turned out to be enlightened rulers. Each one she had met, she had known they would be good for Kyou, that they would bring Kyou into a long era of prosperity. And she had been disappointed every time one of them passed by without the revelation.

So Touke was in good hands. Between Touke and the Generals, Kyou was in good hands. So she should stop worrying. It would all turn out fine. Well, not fine. Many people would die, something she absolutely hated with everything she had. But it wasn't in her power to stop it. She despised her helplessness as well, but there was no helping it. In the end, payed for in blood, Touke and the Generals would save Kyou, and work together to bring in an era of peace and prosperity.

As Touke had told her before leaving, all she had to do was wait.

* * *

Pinkon: 敏痕

Koubochi: 浤伐

Shou: 劭 (this is an uji)

Techi: 悊 (this is also an uji)

Ken-Ou: 堅王


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Touke stared down at the city, her heart pounding in her throat.

This was Ouhan, capital of the prefecture of the same name. Touke had been here once or twice long before, back when she had lived in the area. It wasn't much different than it had been a hundred years ago, much the same size and shape. Of course, it had been in better condition back then. Then, An Province had been in good hands, and it showed. Now the walls seemed duller, a little frayed in places. Some of the monochrome buildings inside were collapsing, and clearly abandoned. It probably didn't help that there hadn't been a king on the throne in quite some time. Kingdoms go to the dogs when there wasn't someone around to run them. That was supposed to be her, though she wasn't used to the idea yet. Getting there. Ouhan was a minor target, but they had to take it to prove they were serious.

Their runners said the prefectural forces had retreated to the castle, and had left defending the outer walls of the city to draftees from the city and the surrounding area. To impress on the people inside the serious shit they were in, Kokumei had had this force take up the banners of the Forbidden Army, to indicate that it was the army of the Queen. They were also flying a certain black and yellow flag. Touke had hesitantly protested at first, pointing out that those flags were only to be flown at the coronation. Kokumei said that was the point, that it was to remind the forces of the Chousai that they were getting in the way. They couldn't hold a real coronation until they had Renshou and the government in some semblance of order, but there wasn't any reason they couldn't manipulate the emotions the flag raised in people.

They were just having a final debate about how exactly to deploy their forces to take the city while killing as few of the draftees as possible, when a runner darted up to them. "Your Highness, Lord Governor!"

The general of this group—Toufu, the General of the Left of Sou—looked a little annoyed, but Kokumei just smoothly turned to the man. She answered for them, as she often did. "Yes, what is it?"

"The gates have opened!" the man said, a little breathless from running over.

Those nearby started in surprise, and turned toward the city. It wasn't so far away that they couldn't see that, indeed, the gate nearest them was open. The men paying attention held in their cheer of victory when they noticed a group of people walking out. Everyone watched as the five slowly approached the army. With a shrug and a wave to join her, Kokumei started leading Touke and the general out to them. The two groups met a short distance from the assembled men. The five were rather sad-looking, with threadbare clothes and carrying sheathed swords that looked so old and uncared for that Touke was sure they couldn't cut.

Kokumei opened her mouth to address them, but Touke put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. She could see where this was going to go. She moved a step a little in front of Kokumei, and tried to put as much authority in her bearing and voice as possible. "You represent Ouhan?"

The men glanced at each other. Their spokesman, a man who looked a little aged to be swinging swords around, nodded. "We see you're flying the colors of the Forbidden Army."

"Yes?"

"The Forbidden Army is in Renshou."

Touke shook her head. "The Forbidden Army serves the queen. A Forbidden Army that opposes the queen isn't a Forbidden Army at all, is it?"

The men looked uncertain. "We heard the King is in Soufuu Palace."

"How could the King be in Soufuu if the Kirin is in Teki?" Everyone knew the two, Chousai and Marquis, were dead set against each other. "I saw her myself."

The men glanced at each other again. "So the rumors are true? The Chousai attacked the new Queen and the Taiho?"

"Don't worry too much. I got out of it okay." Again, the men glanced at each other at her choice of words, baffled expressions on their faces. "My name is Touke. I'm the Queen of Kyou."

When the men continued staring in shock, Kokumei said, "I believe you're supposed to be on your knees."

The men didn't move at first, clearly unsure if Touke was really who she claimed to be. They stared at her for long moments. She probably didn't look very queenly. She was wearing the same simple leather armor as everyone else, but with a layer over it in blue with tracings of gold. Blue, a deeper blue than she had seen everywhere in Kokumei's palace, had been the color of the previous King, and gold, of course, symbolized the Kirin. That had first taken Touke aback when she had seen all the yellow in Kokumei's home, and when she had asked her she had said it was yellow, not gold. Apparently, there was a difference. She had been trying to teach herself these last couple of weeks to hold herself and speak with the confidence she was supposed to have, but she wasn't sure she was doing so well at it.

But, with another glance at each other, the men sank to their knees and put their foreheads to the dirt. Touke couldn't help but be a little surprised that they had believed her. If it were this easy to sway these people, no wonder the Chousai had managed to take over as he had. Their spokesperson said, "We humbly beg your forgiveness, Your Highness."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Touke said. She looked away; she still had trouble with the sight of people submitting themselves to her like that. "Go back to the city and tell them I'm here. Those who let us pass won't be punished."

"Thank you, Your Highness." The men stood, backed away a short distance with their heads bowed, then turned and jogged back to the city.

"How was that?" asked Touke, turning to Kokumei.

Kokumei shrugged. "It will do. You could have acted more angry, though."

"But I wasn't angry."

"That's why I said _act_," Kokumei said with a slight smile. "This city is standing against you. That makes them traitors to the throne."

"But I'm not on the throne yet."

"The Kirin _is_ the throne, and she chose you. That chair up in Soufuu is only a chair. What matters is the Kirin next to it."

"Right, of course."

Kokumei nodded. "In fact, it is perfectly within your rights to order us to burn this city to the ground. They're committing sedition, and the penalty for sedition is death no matter where you are."

"I understand."

"The Chousai and all his men are committing sedition as well, and leading others into sedition. They all deserve death. When the time comes, you must know with complete confidence whether and how you will carry out this sentence."

"I understand."

"Now—" Kokumei turned toward the city. "—I don't object to you sparing them. They aren't aware of the whole situation, and they are only following orders. Sparing them is the right thing to do."

"Of course."

"But you must have the strength of conviction necessary to _not_ spare those who deserve it."

"You mean the Chousai."

"That is not for me to say. You are the Queen. It's in your hands."

Touke let out a little humming sound. It seemed a lot of things were in her hands these days. Though, at this point, she was pretty certain she would be killing the Chousai with her own two hands. Gripping her sword, of course, but still. She figured it was the best path to take. She couldn't let the Chousai live—if he did, it was likely he would incite some sort of rebellion at some point in the future. That, and people must know that opposing the throne brings punishment, to deter future problems. And if anyone else killed him, it would signal that she couldn't handle this kind of thing on her own, that she had to order someone else to carry through the righteous, furious execution that was only hers to give. If she couldn't kill the man who took her throne herself, how could she ever claim to stand on her own?

She knew Aku would hate this logic.

"Look!" a nearby soldier shouted, pointing at the city.

Touke turned with Kokumei to look at the gate. Just next to it, against the wall, a flag was hanging. It took a while for her to place it. It was the flag they flew over the rishi when the new king was enthroned. She couldn't remember what it was called. She had only seen it once, a long time ago. "Look at that," Kokumei said, a good amount of pleasure in her voice. She turned to Touke. "Congratulations, Your Highness. You just took Ouhan." Then she turned toward the army, shouting orders for them to move into the city and toward the prefectural castle.

Soon, Touke and her army were inside the city, staring at the castle. The defenses were more impressive here than around the city. The walls were tall, with niches carved out at the top for archers to hide behind while keeping a good firing angle. Even now, Touke could see some archers crowding around the towers in the middle, which Touke assumed housed the mechanisms that raised and lowered the gate. It was enormous, towering far above her head, made of thick hardwood supported by stone and reinforced with shining metal. She didn't think they were going to break through that. Kokumei and the general and a few commanders were debating how to get inside.

Suddenly Touke had an idea. She turned to the group. "How many air cavalry do we have?"

"Fifteen," one of the commander said.

That few. They had split them up between units, part of their plot to distract the Chousai. Touke looked up again at the towers, counting the archers she could see. She made a rough guess of how many guards there probably were inside. Fifteen would be enough. With Kokumei and herself it would be enough. "I have an idea," she said to the group.

They glanced at each other. It was clear they didn't think much of the opinion of someone who had never had military training. But Kokumei said, "Alright. Let's hear it."

"We use the air cavalry—"

"Nonsense," Toufu said in a gruff voice. "We don't have enough to make any real difference."

"Are you going to let me finish my sentence?" she said, making her voice as cold as possible. Toufu didn't blink, but he did shut up. "We use the air cavalry to make some quick flybys. Come down low and fast, throwing one spear each. Then circle around and do it again."

"They can't be very accurate like that," one of the commander said.

"No, they don't have to be. It's just to make some confusion. Cause see, we'll put one swordsman on the back of each kijuu in addition to the one flying it. After the second pass, we drop off the fifteen men. Then we storm the towers and raise the gate."

"That can't possibly work," said Toufu.

"No," Kokumei said, a wide smile on her face. "I've read about it before. It should work. We just have to pick our swordsmen carefully."

Touke nodded. "I was thinking you and me would go."

"Yes, that's a good idea." She turned to Toufu. "Gather your thirteen best swordsmen. We fly before the light fails." Since this wasn't her army—she was borrowing it, with Touke along for the ride—she didn't know the men, so she left it to Toufu. It was amazing to Touke that she could trust someone to do that who wasn't on her command, and that she had never met before. She wondered where that kind of confidence came from.

When the commanders dispersed, and she and Kokumei were left alone, Touke turned to her. "Do you really think it was a good idea, or are you just humoring me?"

"I wouldn't put people's lives at risk if I were just humoring you." Kokumei turned her smile on her. "I really had heard of the strategy before. It was used in some battle in Ren I can't remember the name of. It just didn't occur to me at the time."

"That's good to hear." Touke didn't completely believe her. It wouldn't be entirely strange to her if people bowed to her thoughts simply because she was queen. Though if anyone were to be honest with her, it was probably Kokumei.

"Just remember when you're fighting to not die." Touke gave her a look, so she continued with a severe expression on her face. "I'm serious. Don't be a hero. If you think something is a risk to your life, don't do it. Your life is more important than taking this prefecture. If you die, the whole thing is pointless."

"I understand."

"Good. Now let's go."

* * *

Ouhan: 央坂 (See? I can use normal kanji xD)

Toufu: 傏降


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Touke had ridden kijuu a handful of times, not really enough for her to consider herself used to it. So it was with some trepidation that she looked upon the kijuu she would now be riding. It was smaller than Nansou, of course, but still of intimidating size. It had the saddle and bags holding spears all military kijuu did. There wasn't really room on the saddle for a second person, so this was going to be awkward. There was some risk the people on the back would fall off and crush themselves on the ground, a risk the fifteen had considered and were now taking. Touke tried to still the thumping of her heart.

That was not the only reason her heart was pounding. She was about to fly into battle. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she could put together vague imaginings. In her chest was a surging fear of death, and a curious concern if she would be capable of taking a man's life, even to defend herself. She tried to shake it off.

"Nervous?" said her cavalryman, Kouyou. He was a small man, though muscle was clearly defined on all his limbs. Most people in the air cavalry, she had quickly learned, were rather small in stature. She wasn't sure if that was a rule, or it just worked out that way.

Touke nodded slowly. "First battle."

"Oh, yeah, that'll do it," he said with his own nod. "I'll make sure to get you to the battlements in one piece. After that, can't help you."

After that, there would really be no one she knew she could lean on. She was going to the left tower with seven men, while Kokumei was going to the right with the remaining six. Kokumei had argued that Touke needed them more than her, so took less. The men had made jokes asking why she just didn't do it all on her own, which she had just laughed off. In fact, much more than having no one to lean on, she would actually be in charge of seven soldiers. Technically, she was in charge of the whole army, but this was the first direct command she would have. She took a breath, trying to calm the thundering in her chest.

Soon, all her and Kokumei's soldiers were balanced precariously on the back of the kijuu, their arms around their cavalrymen. When they had properly gathered, Kokumei gave what counted as a pre-battle speech. "When we get the gates open," she shouted at the army in general, "rush in like you mean business. Let's make these traitors regret get in our way!" That was all. But even with something so simple, the soldiers near enough to hear raised a hand, in imitation of Kokumei, and let out a shout. It almost hurt Touke's ears. "Go."

In a rush of movement, all the kijuu burst into the air. They climbed high, soaring over the city to the east. They spiraled higher into the air. Touke felt her grip against Kouyou tighten. She felt like she would fall off any moment, so fragile was her hold on the kijuu. The surrounding area spread out below them, fallow fields and villages abandoned to feed the defending force. She could see long into the distance, the great rolling hills of the province stretching off in long directions. With a breath, she tried to absorb the peace of their surroundings.

She let it out in a shout of surprise as all the kijuu at once turned into a dive. She clutched at Kouyou harder to keep herself in place. The bottom fell out of her stomach as they dropped precipitously through the air, like a rock falling from a great height. As they sped up, the barrier around the kijuu failed some, and a light breeze blew through her clothes. They neared, and Kouyou, gripping one of his spears, pulled a few degrees out of the dive. The castle whipped past them in a blur, and in a smooth motion Kouyou reached over and cast his spear at the ground. On the other side of the castle they again rose high into the air.

She was a bit more prepared the second time, so as they approached the castle again, she could see what had been wrought by their first pass. The archers had scattered, a fair number of them frozen in place by spears stabbing through them. Just as the kijuu neared again, they started poking out of their hiding places, like mice checking to see if the threat had gone. They passed again, and this time, instead of going back up, the kijuu bled off speed and came about. Soon, as she looked down, she could see stone rising up toward her feet, the walkspace at the top of the wall.

When the wall neared, she let go of Kouyou and dropped to the ground. It was a little higher than she had thought, and the impact was almost enough to take her to the ground, but she managed to keep to her feet. She took a look around, taking inventory of the situation. There were a few dead or dying archers around, spears piercing their bodies. Blood and flesh slowly spread from them, staining the stone. They were out of the picture, so Touke ignored them. More importantly, she could see a group of uninjured archers, starting to turn their sights on her and her approaching men.

She started running toward them an instant before Koubochi pushed her into quicker motion. Along the way she drew her sword. In their eyes she could see fear, fear of her army, fear for their lives. She didn't care. In passing, she slashed across the first archer's neck; she felt a thin spray of blood hit her. She let her momentum carry her into the midst of the group. Her arms moved in constant motion, bringing deadly blows on the archers all around her. In only a couple seconds the half dozen or so were all on the ground, dead or dying. She consciously took a breath to center herself, only realizing then that she had been breathing heavily.

She turned toward her men to see a couple of them had been running forward to help her, and were caught partway around. With another glance around, she saw there were no more archers in the immediate vicinity. Touke gave her men a nod and a wave, urging them to follow her to the tower. There was no door in the archway, so Touke merely sprinted under the eaves. There were a few archers huddled inside, turned toward the notches in the wall in preparation for more airborne attackers. Her and her men made short work of the surprised archers. One of her men got an arrow in the shoulder during the skirmish. She gestured him to get out of the way and wait, but he shook his head and stood up, gripping his sword. With a shrug, she lead the way down the curving staircase at the center of the tower.

They plunged into deeper darkness for a while before coming into a room lit by lamps. There was a group of swordsmen inside, and a large wheel with notches around it, a thick rope wound around. This would be the mechanism they were searching for. The swordsmen started at her appearance, and moved to intercept her. They wavered a little when her men followed her. Their numbers were pretty even.

A sword came down at her. She did the same glancing block she had used against Pinkon, then pivoted to cut off the man's hand. Her sword easily cut through flesh and bone—she understood it had some magical properties, but she wasn't sure exactly what. His scream joined those echoing around the room. She pivoted again, slashing her blade across the now-defenseless man's throat, turning his scream to a few final gurgles before he fell to the ground dead. She went around the room, ending longer duels by cutting down her men's opponents from behind. When the skirmish was over, she counted the men still standing. She had lost one. Not bad. The man with the arrow in his shoulder had even survived.

Her men moved to the wheel, and, most of them working in concert, started turning it. The man with the arrow in his shoulder, who couldn't push because he could only use one arm, and herself stood at each entrance, to ward off any trying to stop the gates from opening. A couple soldiers tried to come through the door she was guarding, but the door itself narrowed the path so only one could come at a time, so it was pretty easy to cut them down as they walked in. Almost too easy.

About the time the stream of soldiers coming in ceased, her men let out a cheer. The gate was open. They trailed over to her, looking at her for new orders. She saw a strange amount of respect in their eyes. "You, arrow-in-the-shoulder." The pile of bodies by the staircase showed the man must be competent indeed.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"What's your name?"

"Yuuko," the man said with a pain-tempered smile.

"When we get into the courtyard, run out to the camp to get treated for that."

"I think I can take a few more traitors on the way. That okay?"

A few of the men chuckled, and Touke joined them. "Right, sure. Just don't be a hero." She realized she was telling this man the same thing Kokumei had told her. The man's smile widened, and he nodded. "Now," she said to everyone in general. "This is when the fun begins." She started off toward the courtyard, the dark laughs of her men on her heels.

* * *

She felt a little gross. She was weighed down by something wet. At first she had thought she was just sweating that much, but a glance downward revealed her clothes were soaked in big patches with blood. Her shoes were a little soggy too. Even her face hadn't gotten out of it; she could feel dried blood tugging at her skin whenever she made an expression. But somehow, her sword was still clean, beautiful, without a mark on it. She was partially deafened from the sounds of combat, the clanging of metal, the screams and shouts of men and women.

But still she charged down the hall of the castle. Kokumei, similarly stained with blood, was running at her side, with a few of their men, also colored, behind them. They were heading for the governor's personal quarters; a servant that had surrendered herself to them said that's where he was. They finally came to an adjoining hall. She shared a look with Kokumei before darting inside.

They found him in his bedroom. A few guards were inside, but it didn't take too much work to be rid of them. She was a little impressed with him. Here were a group of warriors, covered in blood, who had just taken out all his defenses, and would likely kill him. It was clear he was afraid, but he wasn't cowering. He met them with his back straight, his face blank. Kokumei, with the same smile she had had since the battle started, waved her forward. Taking another steadying breath, she stepped in front of him. "You are Governor Fun?" she said, addressing him by his uji. She couldn't remember his azana offhand.

He lifted his chin a little. "I am. Are you their leader?"

"I'm Kyou-Ou."

At that, his eyes widened a little, but he didn't otherwise move. He did, though, glance at the sword in her hand, and, with a slight frown, apparently recognized it. "I see. I suppose then I am to be executed for sedition."

Touke resisted the impulse to glance at Kokumei. "That depends."

"On what?"

"Kokumei—" The man's eyes again widened at the name. "—what do we know of the governor of Ouhan Prefecture?"

Kokumei seemed to consider for a moment. "A little bit. New to the position. He's not particularly liked nor disliked by his people. Mild taxes. He's held the prefecture together pretty well, considering."

That didn't sound too bad. Touke nodded to herself. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

"To Kyou-Ou, of course."

"So why do you support the Chousai?"

A somewhat pained expression came to his face. "Geimei claims to be King. Who am I to say he isn't, when he has all of the Rikkan supporting him? I'm just a humble governor." There was a point to that. "Of course, I heard the rumors he had attacked Kyourin with the true Queen, but I don't usually lend credence to rumors." A short pause. "Apparently, I should have."

Touke considered another moment. And sheathed her sword. "There are some men I'd like you to order to surrender."

"Of course," he said with a bow of his head.

It would later occur to her that he should have prostrated himself.

* * *

"Taiho?"

Aku snapped out of her fugue. She looked away from the distance, and turned to Zekkin, the prime minister of Teki. They were having tea, or at least had been, before Aku had gotten distracted. "I'm sorry, what?"

The prime minister smiled. She was an old woman, both in apparent and actual age. She had been a functionary in the Chikan back in the days of Ken-Ou. When Mei had moved to Teki, she had taken Zekkin with her. "I'm sure Her Highness is perfectly fine," Zekkin said, seeing through Aku the way she was purported to be capable of.

Aku let out a long sigh. "I just hate being this far away from her." She reached out and took a sip of her tea. It was starting to get cold.

"She'll be fine," Zekkin said with confidence. "Kokumei is with her."

"Yeah, I suppose. So where were we?"

"You were asking me about land use rights, and how I handle them."

"Yes, that." Zekkin was one of the people Aku was getting to know—interviewing would probably be a better word—in preparation for forming the government. She was on her list as a possible Daishito. "Continue, please."

Zekkin started talking. It didn't take long before Aku spaced out again. "Taiho?"

Jolting in place, Aku turned to look at her again. She let an apologetic expression fall on her face. "I'm sorry. I'm just really out of it today."

"You don't need to apologize, Taiho. I'm sure there's a lot on your mind."

"Yeah…" Aku turned to stare into space again. After a few moments, she said, "I smell blood."

Zekkin frowned. "Here in the palace?"

"Yes and no." She let out a long sigh, trying to force out her worry and annoyance. "You know you get this phantom smell one second and it's gone the next, so short you weren't convinced you really smelled it? That keeps happening. I think the battle started."

Zekkin just kept on frowning. "You can smell that all the way from here?"

"No, of course not. I think it's because Touke can smell it."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"There's so much we don't understand about the connection between a Kirin and her queen. Even for us Kirin. Who's to say what's possible and what isn't?" She let out another long sigh. It wasn't helping.

There was silence for a short while. Then Zekkin said, "It's probably not too different from what the families of our soldiers are feeling, having a loved one sent away."

"I suppose it probably isn't. Save that I will certainly see Touke again, and many of those families won't be so lucky."

"You don't fear for her life?"

"Honestly?" Aku shrugged. "Not really. She's learned much with the sword. And my shirei will protect her. I'm more concerned she'll come back different."

"Different?"

"You know. Changed. By killing people." Even as she said it, that fear sprung to life in her, the fear that killing would corrupt Touke. The taking of a life was the most terrible thing she could imagine—the pain, the oblivion, the loss of all that potential, and the loss of the killer's innocence—and Touke was probably doing it right now. Following that was powerful grief for the people dying, for their families, and she suddenly felt she was near tears.

Zekkin must have noticed, for she reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, then hesitated, clearly unsure if she should be touching the Taiho. "War does change people. But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"How could it not be a bad thing?"

"Just look at Mei. She was just an ordinary soldier, unremarkable, like any other. Then she fought her first battle. She changed. Her personality was tempered, turned from something dull and weak into something shining and powerful. And with that came a desire to make the best of Kyou she could, so the people who died wouldn't in vain. Is that so bad?"

"I suppose not," she grumbled. "Still, I don't like it. I don't think character development that requires death can really come from a place of moral purity."

Zekkin let out a smile. "Aside from the Kirin, there is no such thing as moral purity in this world."

"I suppose not."

"Just you wait. Kyou-Ou will return to you. And she will be the stronger for it."

That's what Mei had said. Aku, in one more attempt, let out a long sigh.

* * *

Kouyou: 航葉

Yuuko: 勇乕

Fun: 盼

Geimei: 芸迷

Zekkin: 舌訢

* * *

_So that's it. Most likely, I'll never write another word of this story._

_If you like my stuff here, it would be super cool if you could read my original fiction on FictionPress. My username there is the same as here. I have a few one-shots and two completed stories fit for perusal _:D

_Anyway, thanks for reading_.


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